Abroad
by WannabeDragronTamer88
Summary: A new "flat", a chance to travel, and the opportunity to write for a prestigious London newspaper? It's a dream come true! Maddie just has to find a way NOT to miss the people she left in america, NOT worry about the other half of Orie's DNA, and NOT to get involved in her cranky neighbors crazy life, and everything will be GREAT...too bad Maddie does what she wants, huh?
1. Baby's First Crime Scene

**_This fic is the fourth installment of a series called SHIFT._ **

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher than me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

Orie LOVED London.

Well, it was kind of hard to tell what Orie liked and didn't like at this point, seeing as Orie was only three months old.

And Orie had only been in London for a few hours.

But Maddie could tell. Orie was british at heart.

"Okay baby," Maddie pressed a kiss to the top of Orie's head, where he was strapped in to the baby carrier. "We've got our marching orders. Do we stop in and meet our landlady first, or get to work?"

Orie waved a little fist, and Maddie nodded. "I agree. Best to get to work!" She adjusted Orie's blanket, fixed the little hat on his head, straightened her own gloves.

* * *

In April, it was still blistering cold, and as such, both Maddie and Orie were covered in layers. But the address Maddie had been given was only a few blocks away, so she set a brisk pace.

By the time Maddie made it to the scene of the crime, her cheeks were pink and Orie was completely covered in blankets, to help him survive the wind.

A dark-skinned woman stopped Maddie from crossing the crime scene tape. "You can't be over here," She'd snapped while shoving Maddie back a few steps.

Orie had snuffled, which drew the woman's eyes to the baby strapped to Maddie's chest.

Maddie flicked back the blanket so that the woman and Orie could get a look at each other. Orie snuffled again, scrunching up his little nose in disgust.

Maddie loved her baby.

"You're trying to bring a baby to a crime scene?" The woman snorted. "Americans."

"Right." Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Is an Inspector Lestrade around?" She covered Orie with the blanket once more, raising the laminated badge her new boss had given her. "I'm his new press liaison."

The woman's face looked even more disgusted, if that was possible, but she raised the tape so that Maddie could step under.

"He's upstairs," The woman directed, crossing her arms.

Maddie smiled fakely. "Thanks ever so," She adopted an accent similar to the woman's but just different enough to be mocking.

Under the blankets, Maddie heard Orie giggle, which gave her the strength to saunter into the building.

* * *

"This is ridiculous."

"Calm down."

"No. You call me…for a case so simple even Anderson could solve it…and expect me to accept this without reservations?"

"Sherlock…first of all, Anderson doesn't even work here anymore. Second, you needed to get out of the house. You can't mope forever,"

"I can try!"

"Sherlock enough!"

Maddie stepped into the parlor of the brownstone, where the voices were coming from. They stopped immediately when they noticed her.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said smoothly, not sparing a glance for the body on the floor. She turned slightly to the man with the graying hair. "Madison Sinclair, your new press liaison." The man's eyes brightened in understanding, and he stepped forward to shake her hand.

"I understand the position is a new one," Maddie began, and the man chuckled.

"It is new," he admitted, "but necessary." He shot a look at the other man, Sherlock, Maddie remembered. "We're looking forward to having you on the team."

Maddie smiled, and Sherlock, the tall man with the dark shock of hair, huffed loudly. "You've thoroughly wasted my entire day," Sherlock snapped. "Just let me speak with the witnesses so I can leave this," Sherlock glared at the room around him, "hovel."

"Right." Inspector Lestrade smiled apologetically at Maddie. Maddie smiled in understanding and moved to stand against the wall, watching as the first witness was brought in.

It was a timid young woman, who Sherlock tired quickly with.

The next witness was a young man who obviously used drugs, and Sherlock spoke at length with him, but then dismissed him angrily.

The third witness was an elderly woman.

And Orie did NOT like her. He snuffled the second she crossed the threshold and wiggled more the longer she was in the room.

The woman, when she realized there was a baby in the room, began to coo and step forward, and Orie let out an angry screech.

"Get that thing out of here!" Sherlock snapped as the woman cringed back.

It Maddie a moment to realize the irate man was not talking about the woman, but was in fact, talking about ORIE.

Maddie grimaced. "Sorry." She apologized, though she took a moment to lean towards Sherlock before she left. "I'd watch that one," she warned in a low voice, so only he could hear. Then she flashed Lestrade a smile and hurried out of the room.

* * *

Maddie was outside interviewing one of the other detectives when Sherlock hurtled towards her. She didn't see him coming, so he had plenty of time to grab her arm and wrench her away.

"Hey!" She snapped, and baby Orie squawked loudly.

"How did you know?" Sherlock hissed, his eyes bright and furious on her face.

"Know what?" Maddie jerked her arm out of Sherlock's grip and took a step away from him. He followed her.

"About that woman. How did you know she should be "watched" as you so nicely warned me?"

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "That wasn't me." She flicked the blanket off of Orion's face, and revealed his face, his eyes squinted against the cold.

"Meet Orie." Sherlock grimaced at the name, and Maddie smiled. "He kind of has a sixth sense about people. He can tell the good ones from the bad ones and the worse ones from the bad." She adjusted the blanket so only his eyes were peeking out. Orie opened them a little bit more so that the brilliant blue of his iris' could be seen.

Yeah, Orie's eyes had stayed blue.

"You're trying to tell me that this…thing can identify killers?"

"Sure." Maddie shrugged. "Was that all you needed?" She waved her notes. "I have an article to write up."

Sherlock narrowed his eyes, then he squatted until he was at eye level with Orie.

Orie's eyes narrowed.

Then the baby smiled.

Sherlock sniffed, then straightened. "You may go." He dismissed, and Maddie curtsied dramatically before striding off.

* * *

Meeting her new landlady went a lot smoother than meeting her new boss did.

Mrs. Hudson was thrilled with a female tenant, and even more thrilled with Orie.

Well, everyone was thrilled with Orie. He was adorable, and everyone thought so…Except for that Sherlock guy.

Mrs. Hudson was thankfully no Sherlock, and the second the older woman had caught sight of the baby, she'd beamed and started cooing.

Orie hadn't taken to Mrs. Hudson, exactly, but he tolerated her attentions.

Much like his mother, he wasn't a huge fan of…people.

But HE could fake it when need be.

So Maddie unstrapped him from his carrier and handed her baby over to her new landlady, inspecting the "flat" she and Orie would be living in for the next few months.

"It's a simple place," Mrs. Hudson explained as she bounced Orie. "Just the main living space, a bedroom, and the kitchen."

Maddie nodded slowly. It was small, but everything looked new, as if it had just been redone. Seeing as it was just Orie and her, they would be fine.

"When did you remodel?" She asked politely.

"Oh that wasn't me, dearie, that was your company. My home is close to the heart of the city and they seemed to really like the location, so they offered to fix the place up, make it habitable, you know," Mrs. Hudson smiled. "We agreed on a reduced rate and they came in and fixed everything up."

"They went to a lot of trouble," Maddie mused. She turned to her new landlady. "Did my company say why?"

Mrs. Hudson shook her head. "I never spoke directly with anyone." She furrowed her brow. "It was all done electronically."

"Odd." Maddie crossed her arms as she thought.

What was it about this place that was so special, that her company would fork out the cash to completely remodel just so she could stay there for a few months? She turned as Orie squawked.

The question would have to wait - being a mom, though new to Maddie, was her new priority.

Maddie smiled and held out her hands, and Mrs. Hudson reluctantly handed the baby over. "We really look forward to staying here for the next few months," she said nicely.

Mrs. Hudson smiled, cooed one last time at the baby, and then bustled away to allow Maddie and Orie space to get ready for bed.

Maddie took one last look at the living room, decorated in simple blues and grays with pops of orange; gray couch, orange pillows, patterned rug.

It was homey, and well done, like the decorator had Maddie's exact tastes. Maddie walked into the bedroom to find a large bed, covered in gray blankets and pillows, Orie's crib already set up in the corner, his changing table next to it.

She moved to get her baby ready for bed, humming quietly as she changed Orie's diaper, put in in pajamas, and then setting him gently down in his crib.

Maddie watched Orie's eyes flutter shut, then moved to the window.

* * *

There had been so many changes. The time change, the move to London, the new job, the new flat, being a mother, Maddie's mind was spinning.

Her phone started to ring, and she moved to the living room to take it.

She smiled at the name on her screen, quickly putting the phone to her ear.

"Hey."

"Mads! Sorry, I don't know how the whole time difference thing works…did I wake you?"

"Nope." Maddie answered quickly. "I haven't adjusted yet, I'm awake. What's up?"

"Uh…I just wanted to see how your first day was. Does Orie like London?"

"Orie loves London," Maddie smiled. "He's not too fond of the weather, though." She grimaced. "Neither am I. But our place is nice, the job should be…" Maddie chuckled, "hilarious, and so far, so good." She sighed. "How are you, Winchester?"

Dean chuckled. "I'm fine. Same old, same old. Cas and Sam ganging up on me, monsters to gank, no time for pie."

"No time for pie?!" Maddie mock-gasped. "The horror." She shook her head, phone pressed tightly to her ear. "Where are you?"

"Montana." Dean grimaced. "It's not my favorite place."

"What's your favorite place, oh fearless traveler?" Maddie teased.

"Uhhh," Dean paused as if thinking. "Where are you, again?" Maddie laughed, but Sam entered the room at just that moment, and he fake-gagged. Dean threw his shoe at his brother.

"Who are you talking to?" Cas followed behind Sam.

"Is that Cas?" Maddie spoke up. "Can I talk to him for a second? I have a question."

Dean made a face, but held his phone out to Cas.

"Who is this?" Cas asked seriously once he got the phone to his ear. He immediately brightened.

"Maddie!" Sam raised an eyebrow at his brother as Cas continued to chat with his ex-roommate. "How is Orion?"

Cas smiled at whatever Maddie said, then frowned.

"No, I have not ever heard of that," He mused. "Let me put you on with Sam…he might know more."

Sam smiled and took the phone, and Dean groaned, flopping onto his bed, flinging his arms out in exasperation.

"Hey Maddie! London treating you well?" Sam smiled and nodded at her response, but then his expression turned serious.

"Hmm…it sounds familiar, but let me check something out." He left the room with Dean's phone, and Dean threw his hands up in the air.

"Did we interrupt something?" Cas asked apologetically.

"No." Dean snapped. "You interrupted nothing." And he stormed from the room.

Cas' eyes narrowed.

Dean may have said the opposite, but he was pretty sure he HAD interrupted something.

…but what?

* * *

 **Cuties. All of them.**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	2. New Neighbors

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

It was a few days later when Maddie reached the door of 221 just as another man did the same. He smiled awkwardly at her.

She smiled awkwardly back, pulling a key out of her pocket to unlock the door. "Here for A or B?" She asked when the man didn't seem inclined to speak.

"Oh uh, a bit of both, I suppose." He admitted, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Maddie opened the front door, allowing the man to step in first. "Mrs. Hudson!" She called out loudly. "Visitor!" She shrugged when the man shot her a look. "New tenant," she shrugged. "I'm not about to get kicked out for letting in some random stranger."

"Tenant?" The man frowned. "Where…"

"C." Maddie confirmed. "It's been renovated recently," She added quickly at the look of disgust that came over his face. "I don't know what it looked like before,"

"You don't want to know." The man shuddered.

Maddie tilted her head. "Noted." She held out a hand. "Madison Sinclair: American."

The man smiled, and shook her hand. "John Watson."

Maddie furrowed her brows; the name was familiar, but then Mrs. Hudson was bustling forward, ignoring the man in favor of asking after the "dear baby,"

It was John Watson's turn to look slightly confused. His face cleared as Maddie unbuttoned her jacket and moved blankets, revealing Orie, once more strapped to her chest.

"He'll suffocate if you keep doing that," Mrs. Hudson scolded, and Maddie rolled her eyes.

"He likes it," She argued. "Go deal with your visitor." Mrs. Hudson finally turned to John Watson, her eyes lighting up.

"Oh John! Go right on up, he's up there, of course!" John smiled and nodded.

"It was nice to meet you, and" he pointed to Orion, who blinked slowly at the stranger. A small fist reached out towards the man, and already smitten, John grabbed the little hand, shaking it.

"Orion." Maddie supplied with a smile. "Three months," She added when John looked up, a question on the tip of his tongue.

"It was nice to meet both of you," John corrected, sending them one last smile before heading up the stairs. Maddie waved at the man's departing back, opening her front door with a sigh.

"Time to get you changed," She muttered to her baby, "you smell something AWFUL."

* * *

 **The B in apartment 221B**

"Apologies for throwing you into the deep end," Lestrade was nice enough to throw out as Maddie threw a bulletproof vest over her chest.

"Are you kidding me?" Maddie snorted, quickly doing up the straps. "Going after robbers in clown masks is a dream come true." She shuddered. "More like a nightmare, actually."

"Afraid of clowns, then?" Donavon winced sympathetically.

"Isn't everyone?" Maddie grinned dryly, then pulled her hands away from her body and looked at Donavon. "Does it look right?"

Donavon furrowed her brow, then adjusted a strap or two, before nodding. "Well done."

"Are we ready then?" Lestrade grinned in excitement.

"Lead on, Inspector." Maddie saluted, and after a moment, Lestrade strode into the building where he was finally….FINALLY going to catch the family he'd been after for so long.

Then he got a text.

Maddie and Donavon didn't see the text, but whoever it was from must've been very important, because Lestrade only thought about it for a moment before he was stepping back and hurrying away.

The two women shared a surprised look.

"What was that all about?" Maddie had to ask. Donavon shook her head slowly. "I have a guess." She admitted, before rushing off to apprehend the bad guys.

Maddie took a moment to decide which direction she would go.

Then she nodded smartly and strode after Lestrade.

* * *

Lestrade was just starting his vehicle when Maddie slid into the passenger seat with a grimace.

"Backwards," she muttered.

"What are you doing?" Lestrade snapped.

"Greg," she began, "Can I call you Greg?" Lestrade, GREG, sputtered, and Maddie continued, "I know that your force is in the middle of finally taking down a horrendous team of criminals, but quite honestly," She shrugged. "This sounded much more interesting. So…I'm coming with you."

Greg's eyes widened, but then he huffed and put the car in gear. "Fine." He snapped. "Let's go then."

Maddie grabbed for the handle of the car, eyes wide as Lestrade sped away.

Greg's driving was so spastic that it didn't allow for conversation, so Maddie didn't know where they were headed until they had arrived.

"Wait a second." Maddie jumped out of the car. "I live here!"

"What?" Lestrade turned to Maddie.

"Does this have something to do with my upstairs neighbor?" She crossed her arms.

"You…" Greg furrowed his eyebrows. "You haven't met him yet?" When Maddie shook her head, Greg shook his head and rushed up the stairs. After a second, Maddie followed.

It was the guy…the guy from the Orion's first crime scene. Maddie's eyes narrowed, and as sirens echoed in the background, she pushed herself forwards.

"Don't tell me you live up here." Her hands fell to her hips. Sherlock's eyes had narrowed.

"And if I did?" He snapped.

"Well." Maddie sniffed. "I suppose I should introduce myself." She didn't hold out her hand. "Maddie Sinclair," she said frostily. "Your neighbor in C."

Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

"It's been recently renovated," she answered tightly. She was REALLY tired of having to say that.

"Don't you have a child?" He asked after a moment, and Maddie nodded.

Sherlock's eyes narrowed and he stood slowly. "Don't tell me that child lives with you."

"Well, where else would he live?" She asked snidely. "He's a BABY, he can't very well get a flat of his own."

"I will not," Sherlock hissed, "have a screaming infant living downstairs, interrupting the work and causing chaos."

"Orie doesn't cry." Maddie snapped.

"All children cry!" Sherlock retorted. "You and your child will just have to move."

Maddie's eyes narrowed. "No."

"Excuse me?" Sherlock leaned back in surprise.

"No." She strode towards the door. "Greg, now that you know where I live, why don't you stop by tomorrow and we'll discuss my job description," Maddie turned to glare at Sherlock.

"Goodnight…NEIGHBOR," She said mockingly, slamming the door behind her.

Sherlock grimaced and Lestrade laughed helplessly.

"This isn't funny." He said stiffly.

"You're right," Lestrade chortled, his hand slapping against his side. "It's hilarious!"

Sherlock huffed and stomped his way to the kitchen, giving Lestrade time to calm himself down.

It took a while.

* * *

 **Job Description**

"Disregarding your neighbor, are you enjoying London?" Maddie rolled her eyes as Greg chuckled.

"London is…tolerable," She admitted. "The place is nice, and Orie seems to like it." Maddie smiled down at the baby in her lap.

"Orie?"

"Orion." Maddie clarified. "He's Orie for short."

"He's adorable." Greg admitted. "My boys haven't been that little in a long time."

"Yeah…I can't wait for him to grow." Maddie poked Orie's belly, and he giggled. "He's cute like this…but he's not very fun."

"With age and fun comes more responsibility and more discipline," Greg advised. "Once he starts getting mobile, you'll have to chase him as well."

Maddie tilted her head. "Maybe I like him this size," She decided, and Greg laughed.

"It is a good size," he admitted.

Maddie nodded, then leaned back against the couch, adjusting Orie so that he was leaning against her stomach, looking across the coffee table at where Greg sat in a chair.

"So I understand that my position is a new one, and that a lot of the specifics we'll have to figure out on the go, but I've spoken with the newspaper I'll be working with, and I've understood what it is they're expecting from me: I'd like to know what you expect."

Greg tilted his head. "What were the papers expectations?"

"They're wanting a weekly article that reviews any crime and police force related news in a clear and concise way. Apparently the people want to be ensured that the force is acting appropriately and in the people's best interest." Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Whatever could've happened that would've made the entire city lose its faith in its police?"

"Well," Greg winced, "Most of the reason can be blamed at the door upstairs."

"This has something to do with Holmes?" Maddie chuckled. "I should've known. I understand that he consults with your department?"

Greg nodded. "He has done, for years. He has a close friend who works with him, and they take on their cases and help us with a few as well. Sherlock has become quite the famous detective." Greg hedged.

"You say famous," Maddie narrowed her eyes, her head tilting, "I'm hearing infamous."

"That's probably more accurate," He admitted after a moment. "Sherlock became famous for going head to head with a brilliant, but crazy, criminal. Their battle waged for a long time, and ended with the criminal committing suicide on the hospital roof and forcing Sherlock to fake his."

"The guy faked his suicide?" Maddie tilted her head. "Actually," She said slowly… "I think a friend was telling me about that…years ago." She shook her head. "He stayed dead for a about a year before returning right?"

"Yes." Greg nodded. "The public during that time had turned wildly in his favor, but his return both shocked and horrified many. We've continued to work with him, but,"

"You can understand why the people would like to be made more aware of your force's actions?"

Greg shrugged.

"Well, outside of my weekly articles, I'm also tasked with covering any major cases and crimes that arise." Maddie rolled her eyes. "My boss believes that with being so close to the force already, you will be more inclined to share information with me."

"Press conferences will be easier with a friendly face in the crowd," Greg admitted. "But you have to understand,"

"I won't publish anything you haven't okayed, and I'll never release suspect or victim information without permission and until the case has been closed. All I ask is that I get the first access over any other reporters. I won't wreck your case if you don't spill my scoops."

Greg nodded immediately. "I believe this will work out better than I'd hoped." He pulled out a pad of paper from his pocket. "I was told to give you a desk at the station, which we can do, and I'll make sure you have access to our records. You'll also be allowed to shadow either myself or Donavon at any time, to shadow anyone else is entirely at their own discretion."

Maddie nodded in understanding. "When you're at the station or simply shadowing interviews, your boy can come with you, at your discretion." Greg grimaced, "I do advise you to use caution, things can always get dangerous."

Maddie tilted her head. "Understood. Question: If Sherlock is consulting on a case, can I shadow him? Only, he would never give permission, so you'd have to make him." She raised an eyebrow.

"He IS the reason we need you in the first place," Greg mused. He nodded. "I'll tell him he has no choice in the matter."

"Hello?" Greg paused at the sound of the new voice. "Miss Sinclair?"

"Come in," Maddie allowed, and footsteps could be heard as the voice drew nearer. "Sorry to interrupt, only your door was open and I thought I heard," John Watson paused in the living room, grinning over at Greg, "And I thought it was you!"

Greg stood and the two men shook hands. "John," Greg smiled. "It has been awhile. Congratulations, of course,"

"Right, thanks," John grinned. "It is quite exciting,"

"What is?" Maddie interrupted.

"Oh, uh, I'm getting married." John nodded. "Three months."

"That is exciting," Maddie agreed. "If you believe in love and marriage."

John paused and tilted his head, but Greg laughed. "I think you and Sherlock will work very well together!" He teased.

Maddie rolled her eyes, but John turned to Greg, who quickly explained, "Miss Sinclair is a reporter for the paper, she'll be writing a crime column, and so will be working directly with us."

John's eyebrows raised. "And since Sherlock is the reason this new position has been created," Greg added slowly, and John smiled.

"Force him to be shadowed by her." John nodded. "Brilliant. But can she handle it?" He looked back at Maddie who smiled slowly.

"I can handle anything."

"John." Sherlock stood in Maddie's doorway, frowning fiercely. "What are you doing in here?"

"I'm speaking with Greg." John pointed, and Greg nodded at Sherlock.

"Lestrade." Sherlock glowered. "Why are you always with her?"

"We work together." Maddie stood, holding Orion so that he could stare at the three men. She smiled at Sherlock. "Which means, you'll be seeing a lot me…AND this guy."

Sherlock's gaze dropped to Orion, who stared back at him solemnly. Orie waved a little fist.

John and Greg cooed, but Sherlock sniffed and whirled out of the room.

John shrugged at the two, then followed his dramatic friend. Greg took his leave shortly thereafter.

Maddie rolled her eyes and moved to get Orie ready for bed.

She grabbed her phone from where it had been charging and took it with her: she had a three month update to send.

* * *

 **Whoo!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	3. Tourist Trap

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"Alright kid," Maddie straightened the hat on Orie's head and strode forward. "You're about to see one of the biggest tourist spots in all of London: the royal palace. Now, pay close attention, because I fully expect you to fund my own palace, for me to live inside in my old age." Maddie sniffed at the large wall surrounding the palace, "I would like my palace to be expensive looking and much nicer than this one, and of course," Maddie shot a glare at two older women taking a photo and getting awkwardly close to a soldier standing guard, "it won't be open to the public." Maddie smiled and patted the top of Orie's head.

"Because we hate the public, of course." Orie babbled to himself, then pointed insistently at the guard who'd probably just been groped by those two old ladies.

Maddie moved towards the guard, close enough that she could see him clearly but far enough away for the poor man to have his personal space.

"This, Orie," Maddie narrated, "is a palace guard. They're not allowed to move for their entire shift, forced to stand there in absolute silence." Maddie looked down at Orie, who simply blinked slowly at the guard. "What do you think?" She asked. "Would you like to be a guard when you get bigger?"

Orie scrunched up his nose in disgust, and Maddie chuckled. "Smart lad," she complimented, moving away from the guard to enter the palace walls. Orie screeched, and reached back towards the guard, and Maddie huffed.

"You want to go back and stare at the person that never moves?" She asked skeptically. Orie giggled, and Maddie rolled her eyes, but moved back towards the guard.

"What's so special about this guy?" She asked Orie, but Orie just reached towards the man. "His clothes?" Maddie guessed. "they are pretty bright; I get why you'd like them." Maddie moved a step closer to the guard, and Orie leaned half out of his carrier to grab at the man's belt.

"Whoa kid!" Maddie grabbed Orie and took a step back, righting him. "The belt's nice too, I guess, but let's keep his pants on, alright?" Orie scrunched up his nose, but finally settled. "Can we leave now?" She asked, and Orie grumbled. Maddie took that as a yes. "Good. Say bye to the nice guard."

Orie babbled in the guard's direction, and Maddie shook her head. "Let's go check out the courtyard now, yeah?" She patted Orie's belly lightly as they stepped through the front gates.

"It's fancy," Maddie observed. "Very vintage-chic. Definitely not my style." Maddie pointed to the statue of what could've been a lion. "I don't want anything with eyes in my palace Orie," She shuddered. "I'd always feel like they were staring at me." She pulled out her phone, then took Orie out of his baby carrier, instead settling him into the crook of her hip.

"Let's get some pictures, shall we?" She leaned her head out of the way to take a picture of Orie, smiling widely at the strange angle his mother was leaning.

Maddie pulled the phone close to her after she'd clicked a couple times.

"Perfect," she declared at the first one. You couldn't tell it was Maddie holding the baby as Orie was the focus, his smile so wide his dimple was showing, the royal palace clearing showing up in the background.

Maddie checked the others, grimacing at the tourists in the background, pausing at the last one.

"Well," She slowly smiled. "I see something that does not belong. Do you see it?" Maddie turned her phone screen towards Orie, who squinted as he examined the photo.

The photo showed a line of palace guards, all in uniforms and wearing their odd hats. The last guard in line, though he was wearing a similar hat, was not in uniform.

Not unless they'd suddenly changed the uniform to a long coat and a dark colored scarf.

Orie took his time looking at the photo, suddenly beginning to babble loudly, his hands reaching for his neck.

"That's right." Maddie grinned, surprised. "It's snooty scarf neighbor man." Maddie dropped her phone into her pocket and holding Orie up so he was eye level with her.

"You're a genius baby," She noted seriously.

Orie just blinked at her.

Maddie smiled. "You want to go see what snooty scarf neighbor man is up to?" She asked, and Orie's little mouth turned up in a delighted smile.

"Come on, then!" Maddie returned Orie to his baby carrier and then strode towards the front steps of the palace. "Let us investigate."

* * *

All Maddie had to do was flash her press badge at the guards and ask to see the man in charge and they were more than happy to escort her to the main offices.

She walked into a tense meeting between the man in charge and another man, seated stiffly on the other side of the man in charge's desk.

Orie screeched, the sound causing the other man sitting down to turn.

The man had looked stressed when he turned, but his expression brightened when he caught sight of Orie.

People tended to brighten at the sight of Orie.

Because he was so great, of course.

"Watson." Maddie nodded at the man.

"I am in a meeting," The other man said stiffly.

"This will only take a moment," Maddie promised, lifting her press badge for good measure.

The man in charge huffed angrily and crossed his arms. "Fine. What?"

Maddie opened her mouth and then paused. She shot John a look, then thought about Sherlock sneaking into the palace and the strange way that Orie had reacted to the guard. Then she used her brain.

"I believe a guard is about to be murdered," Maddie finally said.

John shot her a look of surprise. Maddie shrugged. It was the best she could think of.

The man in charge sniffed, and then another guard burst into the room. "Sir!" The guard panted. "A guard has been murdered!"

"Yes!" Maddie lifted a fist in the air. The man in charge glared at her. "You two come with me," he bit out, and Maddie shrugged apologetically at John, following him out of the room.

* * *

"Whoops." Maddie covered Orie's eyes at the sight of the naked man. "Nudity!"

John Watson shot her a look. She scrunched up her nose, and Orie snuffled angrily at the light of sight. Maddie turned her attention to him, not really focusing on the conversation around her as their voices got louder, at least not until Maddie heard,

"He's still breathing!"

"Well hurry and put some pants on him before he dies of embarrassement!" Maddie burst out, and all of the men in the room turned dirty looks in her direction.

"What?" She snapped. "It's a real issue."

"Just…go stand in the corner and be quiet," John bit out. "I'll want to have a word with you before you go." Maddie pushed her front lip out, but did as Watson had ordered.

He was kind of scary when he got into doctor mode.

* * *

"So." John smiled down at Orie, his smile falling as he looked up at Maddie. "How did you know?"

"How did she know what?" Sherlock leaned foward, eyes squinting at Maddie.

"About thirty seconds before a man reported the guard's death, she comes in and blurts out about some guard about to be murdered." John explained, hands waving angrily

"Really?" Sherlock raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

"It's not that interesting," Maddie shrugged. She settled back into the chair they'd pointed her to, smirking at the men.

John Watson, once he'd finished saving the guards life, had whirled on Maddie and demanded she meet them up at Sherlock's place. Both Sherlock and Maddie had been too scared to argue, so they'd simply shared a cab back to their home and hurried up the stairs. John had pointed Maddie to an armchair and Maddie had settled into it, situating Orie so he could squint at the two men.

"It's not that interesting?" John repeated slowly. "Really. Then you won't mind explaining, just for my peace of mind?"

Maddie's eyes narrowed. She wasn't sure if she liked either of these men or not, and Mr. Watson was being rather pushy at the moment.

She didn't have to take that.

"Why would I care about your piece of mind?" Maddie tilted her head. "I had every right to be where I was, because I had the proper identification. Who was it I saw sneaking in?" Maddie crossed her arms and looked pointedly at Sherlock.

Sherlock leaned back with a glare.

"I," h sniffed loftily, "was on a case."

"So was I," Maddie agreed quickly. "I'm the crime press liaison, and I've been given express permission to shadow you on cases, both private and consulting."

"What?!" Sherlock sputtered. "Absolutely not-"

"Absolutely YES," Maddie corrected. "Inspector Lestrade specifically gave me permission."

Sherlock continued to sputter angrily, and John raised a finger.

"Alright," he said, "so you asked to speak with the man in charge because you saw Sherlock sneaking in?" John guessed. Maddie nodded. "Because you assumed he was on a case?" Maddie nodded again. "How did you know it had to do with a guard? Or that it was a murder?"

Maddie pursed her lips, slowly looking down at Orie.

"Oh, don't tell me the baby told you!" Sherlock snapped.

"Not in so many words!" Maddie snapped back. "He's a baby, obviously he can't talk. But he WAS weirdly obsessed with one of the guards when we were walking in, specifically the guard that was almost murdered, I might point out," she added, "and then I saw you sneak in disguised as a guard and where murder is, you followed, so I just went to go see that guy, put the clues together, and guessed on the case."

"But the guard hadn't been murdered yet," Sherlock spoke up. "Why draw that conclusion, of the many others that you could've?"

Maddie shrugged. "No idea," She admitted. "Murder just sounds more serious than say, stalking or something."

Sherlock and John shared a look, and Maddie smirked. "Wait a second. "It was a stalking case?"

Sherlock fidgeted in his chair. "Yes," he finally admitted.

"Yes!" Madddie grinned, and Orie snuffled. Maddie took that as her cue and slowly stood. "Looks like the baby needs a nap." She hefted Orie into her arms, and his head fell to rest on her chest, his eyes already closing. Maddie moved to the doorway, but not before smiling smugly at Sherlock.

"I'll see you around," she winked, and Sherlock growled.

John and Sherlock listened to the sound of her footsteps on the sound of the staircase.

"She's an odd one." John finally said. Sherlock grunted in agreement, and John smiled. "I think Mary would love her."

"Yes," Sherlock agreed reluctantly. "Mary is often fond of the odd ones." He raised an eyebrow at John before striding towards the kitchen.

John furrowed his brows. "Wait." He said after a moment. "Was that supposed to be an insult?"

Sherlock, from where he stood in front of the stove, chuckled.

It had been a while since he'd found something amusing.

It was a nice change.

* * *

 **Orie has a special sensitivity to others...because he's not from this dimension - ish.**

 **More on that later!**

 **~CLC~**


	4. Making Friends and Fighting Crime

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"Quick! I need the child!"

"What?" Maddie blinked slowly, leaning back in her chair and moving her gaze from her laptop to the man standing imperiously in her doorway. He repeated himself, and one of Maddie's hands came up to rest on the sleeping baby on her chest. "No!" she snapped. "Get your own!"

Sherlock rolled his eyes with a loud huff, holding out his hands.

"You don't even like him." She accused.

"But I need him."

Maddie and Sherlock found themselves in the middle of a stare down. Sherlock narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth, determined to win. Maddie pursed her lips, thinking.

"Fine." Maddie held up Orie, who woke up with a grumble, rubbing his eyes. After a moment, he focused on Sherlock, who slowly reached for the baby, like he was a bomb or something. Orie went into Sherlock's arms willingly.

"Bring him back in two hours." Maddie ordered, turning back to her computer.

Sherlock shrugged and carried the baby up to his apartment.

"Now," He said seriously, settling into his chair and lifting the baby so that he could see Sherlock's computer screen. "Meet the woman I believe to have murdered 18 men."

* * *

"Dude!" Maddie thought about knocking, but decided not to because Sherlock never did. Also, she didn't really have many manners. "Where's my kid?"

"Shh!" Maddie rounded the corner to find Sherlock laying on the floor, his chin propped in one hand. Orie sat a few feet away, laying on his back and babbling seriously at the ceiling.

"What are you doing?" Maddie paused in the doorway.

"SHH!" Sherlock hissed again. He pressed a button on the voice recorder he held in one hand, and a woman's voice rang out, the heavily accented words making it hard to determine what exactly she was saying. At the first syllable, Orie's little face scrunched into a look of disgust, a deep red flushing all over his body and he began to screech loudly.

"Sherlock!" Maddie's hands flew to her ears. "Whatever's happening," she yelled, "make it stop!"

Sherlock paused the recording and Orie immediately reverted back to his calm self, cooing when he caught sight of his mom.

Maddie picked up her baby and cradled him to her chest. "What was that?" She asked again. "I've never heard him make that noise before."

"That," Sherlock stood smugly, "was your son identifying a murderer."

Maddie squinted. "Wow," she said after a moment. "Cool. Well, me and my genius baby have things to do, so,"

"Hmm." Sherlock moved back to his chair, settling into it, his hands clasped under his chin. "Be off with you then."

Maddie looked at Orie, who blinked at her. She shrugged. "Alright then. Peace out." She made Orie wave one little hand, shot Sherlock one last confused look, then took her baby back to her apartment.

"And I thought I was crazy," She muttered.

Orie just laughed.

* * *

Maddie was surprised to see Mrs. Hudson the moment she walked into 221, the door not even all the way open before Mrs. Hudson was hurrying forward, wringing her hands worriedly.

"Mrs. Hudson," Maddie greeted slowly. "Where's my son?"

"Oh that Sherlock," Mrs. Hudson began, and Maddie chuckled.

"Orie's with Sherlock then," she concluded. Mrs. Hudson nodded slowly, and Maddie smiled. "Alright cool." Pulling the keys out of her hoodie, she unlocked her door and stepped through, sighing happily.

"You're not…worried dear?" Mrs. Hudson's tremulous voice called from the hallway, and Maddie's nose scrunched up as she pulled off her knit cap.

"Worried about what?" She ran her fingers through her hair and blinked at Mrs. Hudson.

"Well, about Sherlock dear. Watching your son."

"Oh. That." Maddie chuckled. "No I'm not worried about that." She squinted. "As odd as it may sound, I trust him."

The old woman's eyebrows rose, as if she'd never heard anything so preposterous. "You trust Sherlock…to watch your son?"

"Sure." Maddie crossed her arms. "Why shouldn't I?"

Mrs. Hudson had no words after that, too confused at how easily Maddie trusted Sherlock.

John Watson himself would hesitate at leaving a child with Sherlock.

* * *

Maddie walked upstairs about an hour later, after having taken care of a load of laundry and gone on a quick run (baby weight was HARD to get off,) to find Sherlock laying on his couch.

His couch was long enough to fit his gangly body where he to lay like a normal person, but Sherlock was scrunched on two-thirds of the couch, his legs dangling over one arm. This was due to the baby seated on the other third, pillows surrounding him so he couldn't fall and hands happily twined in into Sherlock's dark hair.

Maddie paused in the doorway, mouth quirking.

This.

Mrs. Hudson didn't see this, no one, Maddie bet, ever really saw this side of Sherlock. But this was the reason Maddie trusted Sherlock so implicitly with her son.

Also, it was free childcare. Maddie would take it.

* * *

"Sinclair? Are you home?"

"Orie, Quick! Hide the drugs!"

Maddie smirked up at Sherlock from where she lay on her living room floor, Orie patting her face from where he lay on top of her.

"You do know I'm a recovering drug addict?" He drawled, eyebrow raised.

Maddie actually HADN'T known that, but she wasn't going to admit it. "That's why we hid the drugs," she said reasonably, and Sherlock huffed.

"I am not here to listen to your bumbling," He drawled, "All I require,"

"Yeah, yeah," Maddie lifted herself into a sitting position and held Orie out. "The child, I get it. Go ahead, then."

"No arguments, this time, I see." Sherlock said smugly.

"Arguments?" Maddie huffed. "I'm a single working mom. The only time I have to be alone is when you come to take him. So please, take him." She waved Sherlock away.

Sherlock opened his mouth to argue, but Maddie shooed him away once more, and Sherlock shrugged at Orie, then carried the baby upstairs.

The case was solved in 20 minutes, thanks to Orie's quick thinking. But Sherlock kept him upstairs for another hour so that Orie's mom could have a break.

But if you asked him, Sherlock would only admit that under threat of dismemberment.

* * *

"Hand him over."

At this point, Maddie didn't even look up. She just lifted Orie up, her hands moving back to her laptop the second she felt someone grab Orie and heft him away.

Orie was returned three hours later, bright-eyed from a nap and smelling suspiciously of…chocolate?

"What was the case?"

"Hmm?" Sherlock was paused in her doorway, his eyes wide, as if he'd been caught in a crime.

Maddie's eyes narrowed. That was guilt there, on his face. "What was the case today? That you needed Orie for?"

"Mmm well, very difficult case, that, a case of the largest proportions," Sherlock hedged, and Maddie's eyes narrowed.

"Really? Sounds high profile." She thumbed through a few papers on her desk. "I haven't heard of it yet. Enlighten me."

Sherlock paused, and Maddie waited, arms crossing.

Sherlock rejected every excuse his brain could come up with.

"Orion is six months today."

"Oh." Maddie looked at the baby, playing on the floor. "So he his."

"His first birthday will take place after your work position is over, and you will likely be in America."

"Right." Maddie got it. This…was another reason she trusted Sherlock. He was a son of a bitch who acted like he had no heart, but Maddie had seen proof that there had to be something beating inside that chest of his.

"You probably spoiled his dinner," She scolded harshly. Sherlock's mouth quirked.

"I most certainly did." He admitted. Maddie rolled her eyes and Sherlock dismissed himself with a swish of his coat.

"I can't believe you're already six months," Maddie looked at her baby…at her boy. He smiled back at her, dimple showing.

"Screw it," She said after a moment, rising to pick up the baby from the ground. "I know he's probably already stuffed you to the brim with chocolate," she opened her fridge slowly, "But did he give you ice cream?"

Orie clapped his hands excitedly.

Maddie smiled and reached for the container, humming under her breath.

* * *

"IS THAT A LEG?"

Sherlock paused. The scalpel he held in one gloved hand slowly dropped to the table. He straightened.

"No."

Maddie raised an eyebrow skeptically. "No?" She repeated. "Then what is it, then?"

"Nothing." Sherlock threw it out his open window. "What do you want?"

A normal person would've questioned Sherlock's behavior. John, at least, would've blustered. But Maddie simply blinked and shoved her sleeping baby into Sherlock's arms.

"So…I have a thing."

"A thing?" Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

Maddie shifted uneasily. "Yes." She snapped. "A thing. So I need you to watch the kid for me."

Now it was Sherlock's turn to blink. "You want me to…babysit?"

"If you gotta say it like that." Maddie shrugged. "Pretty much. It's only for a couple of hours."

Sherlock settled the baby into his arms and squinted.

Maddie looked…put together, was the word. She wore her best pair of jeans, a shirt without any stains on it, and her hair was in the usual updo…but it looked as if she'd actually brushed her hair before she'd pulled it back with an elastic.

"My God." Sherlock's eyes widened. "You're meeting a man."

Maddie's eyes narrowed into slits…but she didn't deny it. Sherlock guffawed. "You're leaving your child with your unstable upstairs neighbor so you can meet a man!"

Maddie's arms crossed and her lips pursed. "Not that it's any of your business," she bit out, "but I'm not "meeting" anyone, it's a videochat. All of my real friends are in America. ALSO; I just so happen to trust my unstable upstairs neighbor, at least enough to leave the most important thing in my life with him."

Maddie stomped towards the door, fists clenched. "And another thing!" she whirled around, "I am an adult! And I have needs!"

And with that parting remark, she stomped angrily down the stairs.

Sherlock chuckled under his breath, swaying slightly for the baby in his arms.

It took a few moments for the first frissure of alarm to snake through him.

The child had been upstairs before, of course. Orion was a consultant, he helped Sherlock focus his thinking, and Sherlock had used the child to his advantage several times before.

But the mother had always been downstairs, and she'd always shown up the moment the baby began to fuss.

Now there was no failsafe: Sinclair was out, Mrs. Hudson was at bridge club, and Sherlock was alone.

With the baby.

Oh…God.

* * *

"Hey Loser! Are you still alive? How's my kid?"

"Fine." Sherlock appeared out of nowhere, it seemed, his face cold. He held out Orie, and Maddie took him gratefully.

"Alright then. Everything went well?"

"Obviously."

Maddie raised an eyebrow at Sherlock. "Alright, what crawled up your butt and died?"

"Don't ever leave me with your child unattended again." He snapped.

"Why?" Maddie snapped back. "Did something happen?"

"Of course not!" He huffed. "But something could've!"

"I trust you to have the balls to be able to handle it."

"Stop saying that!"

"Saying what?" Maddie challenged.

Sherlock ran a hand through his hair. "Saying that you trust me." He repeated. "Because you shouldn't. I will inevitably break that trust."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Sherlock," Maddie made a face. "God, I hate pep talks."

"As do I," Sherlock interjected quickly.

"Well you shouldn't have thrown a little tantrum then, huh? Because now you're getting one." She took a deep breath and thought for a moment

. "Grow some balls. Get over yourself. Letting you watch my son isn't some test that I'm just waiting for you to fail, and I don't let you watch him because it's convenient for me, Mrs. Hudson is far more convenient and much less of a basket case. I let you watch him because you like him, and he obviously likes you. Being around each other is mutually beneficial. So…get over yourself, and think of the children…or whatever. Good night." She turned away.

"Balls." She threw over her shoulder. "Grow some."

Sherlock chuckled disbelievingly. "Your evening went well then?" He called back. "Your needs have been sated?"

"BALLS," was the only response he got, and he chuckled again. Maybe having her around wasn't the worst thing.

* * *

 **They have this weird friendship thing going on...AND I LOVE IT.**

 **Oh and before I forget, because someone asked for more DEAN, and inspiration bit me, here's a freebie!**

* * *

"What are you wearing?"

"Khakis."

Maddie couldn't help it, she burst into laughter. Dean, on the other side of the screen, thousands of miles away, smiled helplessly, because a laughing Maddie was contagious.

Maddie laughed with her whole body, throwing her head back, arms clutching her stomach, knees rising to her chin.

Dean loved watching it happen, and even more loved being the cause.

"It wasn't that funny," Cas poked his head into view. "Not even a little bit."

"Get out!" Dean shoved Cas, who rolled his eyes but moved out of the screen range.

"You trying to make this a threesome, Winchester?" Maddie teased, raising an eyebrow. Dean huffed.

"No," He grumbled. "I WANT you all to myself. But dO I GET THAT?" He hollered over his shoulder, and a door slammed. "We're sharing a hotel room." He admitted.

"Awkward." Maddie grinned. "I like it. On a case?"

"Always," Dean rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that tip by the way; the cop you introduced us to took the news of spooky things being real rather well."

"Eh," Maddie leaned closer to the screen, aware of the other coffee shop patrons behind her. "I prepped him. Did he tell you about the network?"

"Network?" Dean furrowed his brows. "I have no idea what that is."

Maddie laughed evilly. "You'll find out soon." She smirked at Dean's worried expression. "Anyway. How have you been?"

"Things have...been." He said slowly, tilting his head. "Cas has been taking everything you're telling him as law, which is great, seeing as you're obviously Team Dean, so we've had no further problems.

"I am NOT Team Dean," Maddie corrected suddenly. "Well, not yet anyway."

"Oh?" Now it was Dean's turn to lean towards the screen. "Well, whatever do I need to do to convince you?"

Maddie grinned..."Well,"

Maddie and Dean talked for nearing three hours, when suddenly Maddie was sighing.

"I think I'm going to write a book," She said suddenly.

Dean was silent for only a moment. "Do it." He encouraged.

"Just like that? You don't even know what it's about." She poked the screen, feeling a sudden urge to poke the freckles dotting Dean's nose, but the screen was as close as she could get, so- she poked the screen again.

"I don't need to know." Dean said firmly. "You want to do it - do it! Mads does what she wants - or isn't that what you're always saying?"

"True." Maddie smiled. "Thanks Winchester. I'll be sure to mention you in my acknowledgements."

"Do that," Dean smiled back. "I'll see you, Sinclair. Kiss that baby for me."

"Duh." Maddie rolled her eyes. "Bye Winchester. Punch your brother for me!"

Maddie poked the screen one last time, just in case, and then it went black.

"Really?" Sam poked his head in. "Of all the women, that one? The one with a baby, in a different country?"

"Yep." Dean nodded, determined. "That one."

On the other side of the ocean, Maddie smiled stupidly at her blank laptop. Then she shook her head.

"Yep." She admitted. "I'm screwed."

* * *

 **UGH. Anyways, REVIEW/FOLLOW/FAVORITE?**

 **~CLC~**


	5. Stag Night

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"I have an international reputation…Do you have an international reputation?" Maddie paused on the other side of her doorway, listening to the slurring voices coming from the other side.

"No," What sounded like Holmes friend said, voice vaguely confused. "No, I don't have an international reputation."

"No…" Holmes agreed, voice jumping three octaves before settling back into something resembling an inside voice, And I don't even know what for – crime, or something like that," he mused vaguely, and Maddie rolled her eyes. She started at the sound of Mrs. Hudson's voice, her tone equal parts frantic and chastising.

"What are you two doing back? I thought you were going to be out late!"

"Ah, Hudders. What time is it?" Sherlock asked, and that's when Maddie opened her front door.

"8pm." She leaned against her doorframe, a smirk on her face. She was wearing ratty sweatpants that were nearly two sizes too large for her. "You've been out less than two hours." She poked the two grown men half-asleep in the stairwell. "I think Orie could hold his alcohol better."

"Oh hush!" Mrs. Hudson, tittered, and Maddie shrugged. "Take care of your garbage, then pop in and keep Orie company for a bit," She directed. "I'll deal with the drunks."

"Would you, dear? How nice." Mrs. Hudson hurried away and Maddie smirked down at Sherlock.

"Come on loser. Upstairs."

"Up the stairs?" Sherlock's eyebrows furrowed. "Nope. No." He shook his head quickly, then grimaced.

"Yes." Maddie repeated firmly. "Come along now. You too, other person."

"Mm? Alright."

"Who are you again?" Maddie asked, wrapping an arm around Sherlock's waist and throwing his arm around her shoulder.

"Mm,"

"That's Watson." Sherlock informed loftily. "My ex…well, ex something. He's getting married."

"Ah, right, I've met you." Maddie grunted under Sherlock's weight, but slowly began to lead him up the staircase. She was too nice. "So this is some sort of – bachelor party? Or whatever it is you call it here, a deer party? Or the uh," Sherlock tripped on a step and the duo nearly fell down the stairs, but Maddie righted them just in time.

"S," Watson's eyebrows furrowed as he attempted to speak. "Su- Stu," He tried a few more times before giving up.

Luckily, the mostly drunk trio had finally reached the top of the stairs, and Maddie happily dropped Sherlock into a chair, motioning for John to take the other.

"Well that's my good deed done for the next ten years," she joked, wiping her hands. "Have a good night, idiots."

"Where's your…friendboy?" Sherlock blurt out, eyelids flickering as if he couldn't decide whether to close or open them. Maddie openly snickered at him.

"My…what?" She asked, arms crossing.

"The man….the face…on the screen." Sherlock's eyes widened dramatically, and he patted his face.

"You mean boyfriend?" Maddie guessed shrewdly. "The guy I talk to through videochat?"

Sherlock leaned back in his seat, which Maddie took for a "yes". "He's not my boyfriend. He's actually not really my anything. He's just," Maddie's nose scrunched. "He just kinda, IS, right now."

"I'm not following," Maddie turned to look at John, who was raising his hand, his fingers wiggling eagerly, waiting to be seen. "I don't get it." His hand dropped once Maddie looked at him.

Maddie glanced at Sherlock, who was blinking very slowly, then back to John, who was doing the opposite, blinking so rapidly it was hard to look at him.

"Well, y'all are wasted and you won't remember this in the morning," Maddie mused,

"I will," Sherlock slurred.

"Likely story," Maddie quipped, moving to sit on the arm of Sherlock's chair. "Anyway, I might as well get this off my chest. So, it all started when…"

* * *

"And then we made out. So like, was it just a friendly, congratulations on your kid thing? But do people normally use tongue with that? Because really, I'm all sorts of jacked up."

John straightened, eyes lighting up as if he'd just had an epiphany. Maddie leaned forward, waiting for what could only be great words of wisdom.

"I'm drunk." He finally said.

"This…is hilarious." Maddie grinned at John, who smiled boozily at her.

"Ah, Maddie?" Mrs. Hudson stood in the doorway nervously. "They boys have a client?"

"And it gets better," Maddie breathed. "Come in, come in!" She ushered the nervous looking woman into the room, slapping Sherlock in the head so he would stop snoring. "Mr. Holmes will be thrilled to hear about your case. No, don't worry he's fine, he's just very eccentric, please sit, tell Mr. Holmes all about it…"

* * *

"Wait." Maddie looked up from the screen of her phone, where she sat recording the entire, horrid interview. It was going to be a youtube hit, she knew it. Great blackmail material, too. "You're going somewhere? Now?"

Sherlock blinked. "Who're you?"

"Brilliant." Maddie grinned, because letting two drunks loose on a crime scene was only a horrible idea. But a hilarious one. "Have fun then!" She waved the woman, Sherlock and John away, grinning all the while.

"Poor woman," she murmured. "Ah well. Time for bed!"

* * *

"Why am I here again?"

"Because apparently, this is all your fault."

"Whoa!" Maddie shot a weak glare at the driver. "This all started when they got wasted. I had NOTHING to do with that. I am a responsible parent-adult." She snickered. "Who likes to watch drunk people make bad decisions."

"You could've stopped them from going back out."

"Greg, Greg." Maddie shook her head. "What would have been the fun in that?" She patted his arm consolingly. "So what did they do?"

"Sherlock interviewed a potential client,"

"NEXT!" Maddie hit the dashboard hard, making Lestrade jump. "I was there for that part," she explained.

"Well, THEN you let them leave with the client, who took them to an apartment, where Sherlock stumbled around, threw up, and then passed out."

"That, is the best thing I've ever heard." Maddie finally said.

"No, it's not, because now both Sherlock and John are in lock up, and YOU have to go bail them out."

Maddie thought about it. "Worth it," She finally admitted, and Greg rolled his eyes.

"Was is really?" He asked waspishly.

"I recorded it." Maddie waved her phone slyly. "You wanna see it?"

Greg was silent for a long moment. "Maybe later," He acknowledged, and Maddie smirked.

"Yeah," she leaned back in her seat. "That's what I thought."

* * *

It was a few days later when Maddie heard the light knock on her door.

It wasn't Sherlock, because he usually barged in. Maybe he didn't even know how to knock? But also: Maddie didn't really have any other friends.

Mrs. Hudson would knock but then open the door one second later. Greg always called before he came over.

So?

Assassin. That was the only answer.

What was one supposed to do when an assassin came knocking?

"Sup?" Maddie raised an eyebrow, leaning against the doorframe. The blonde woman raised an eyebrow back, and Maddie scrutinized the woman standing at her front door.

"You don't LOOK like an assassin," she mused, and the woman's eyes widened. "Then again, you do come in all shapes and sizes." Maddie opened her door wider. "Come on in, assassin."

The woman stepped in slowly. "We haven't met," She began,

"No we have not," Maddie agreed, plopping onto her couch. "I have no idea who you are. Assassin was my guess, but" she shrugged. "I could be wrong."

"My name is Mary. You may have met my fiancé?" The woman's lips quirked into a smile. "John? He used to live upstairs, comes by now and again."

"Short, blonde, looks likes he's SEEN things?" Maddie described, getting a full smile out of the woman.

"That would be him," she confirmed.

"Yeah I know him." Maddie snickered. "Bailed him out of jail the other day actually."

"That's why I'm here." The woman held out a hand. "I wanted to thank you."

"No thanks necessary," Maddie grinned. "It was really my pleasure," but Maddie shook the womans hand anyway.

She did HAVE manners. She just didn't like to use them very often.

"I heard you also video-taped it?" The woman asked lightly.

"Sure did," Maddie admitted. "I like to watch it when I need a laugh."

"Mind sharing?" The woman asked dryly. "The weddings Saturday next, and I could use a laugh."

Maddie grinned and fished her phone out of her pocket. "I'm always willing to share other people's embarrassing moments," She chuckled, straightening at the sound of a babies cry.

"Ah." Maddie pointed at the bedroom door. "That's the brat. I'm gonna go get him up. Watch the video, snoop around," Maddie shrugged. "Whatever."

The woman smiled slightly, turning her attention to Maddie's phone, and Maddie went to attend to Orie, who was balancing upright in his crib, hands gripping the bars tightly.

* * *

"Well." She murmured to Orie, as she lifted him out of his crib and moved him to the changing table. "I just left who I'm pretty sure is an assassin alone in my apartment with my phone. Is your mommy smart or what?"

Orie babbled, Maddie blew on his belly to get him to laugh, and then the two headed out into the living area.

Maddie's phone was resting on the couch, the woman nowhere to be seen.

"Yep." Maddie bounced Orie. "She's gone. Do you think the assassin got what she wanted?"

Orie reached for Maddie's phone, and Maddie let him drop to the ground so he could practice crawling.

"Yep." Maddie turned the fridge. "I think so too."

* * *

"Sinclair?!"

"Yes Sherlock?" Maddie rolled her eyes. Mrs. Hudson always got so mad whenever Sherlock and Maddie yelled back and forth from their own apartments.

"Go upstairs to talk at a civilized level!" she'd scold them.

Sherlock never listened. Neither did Maddie.

"Saturday next: I'll need you to accompany me to a wedding."

Ah. The assassins wedding. "Can Orie come?" Maddie asked loudly.

"Obviously!" Sherlock snapped.

"Kay!"

Maddie focused on pulling dinner out of the fridge.

"Is there any chance you have attire suitable for a wedding?"

Maddie grinned.

"Jeans are okay, right?" She called back, and Sherlock rolled his eyes so loudly, Maddie heard it from downstairs. "I'll get something this week. Do you think that chick from the morgue will go with me? She seemed nice."

"Molly?" Sherlock sounded scandalized. "Do NOT go shopping with Molly. Her taste is questionable."

"It's Molly or Jeans!" Maddie reasoned, and Sherlock huffed.

"Fine." He relented. "But PLEASE, stick to neutral colors. And no hats!"

"Kay." Maddie agreed.

"Dears! Civilized levels, please!" Mrs. Hudson warbled voice pleaded.

"Sorry!" Maddie and Sherlock called back together.

Orie screeched loudly, and Maddie couldn't help it. She started laughing.

Sherlocks deep chuckle joined in after a moment, and Mrs. Hudson gave up, closing her door with a loud thump.

"Well." Maddie turned to Orie, hands on her hips. The second she looked at him he started crawling towards her, grinning. "Your six month checkup went amazing, we had a visit from an assassin, and now we're going to a wedding next week." She lifted Orie into her arms. "Our days are never boring, are they? And," She strapped Orie into his high chair, "We get to talk to Bucky in a few hours, and Dean later tonight." She poked Orie's dimple, and he squirmed. "Life could be worse, I guess." She smiled at Orie, then continued to make dinner.

* * *

 **Another Freebie, cause I love y'all.**

* * *

"So I know we joked about it last time, but since when did this thing become a threesome?"

"Well I'm sorry I'm a responsible citizen that actually has to work for a living so I don't have a lot of free time and had to double book y'all."

Maddie's computer screen was split into three boxes. In the first box, the smallest in the right hand corner, was the image her camera caught. Maddie herself, hair piled on top of her head and still damp from a shower, the top of a light gray sweatshirt visible. She rested her chin on one hand.

The second screen was of Dean, a crappy hotel room in the background. He looked vaguely annoyed, probably because the third screen showed a beaming Bucky Barnes, a crappy apartment barely visible behind him.

"I'm just glad to see your face." Bucky winked. "How's London?"

"Smoggy," Maddie shrugged. "My only friends are an old lady, a chick who works at the morgue, my boss, and my crazy upstairs neighbor." A loud screech made Maddie smile and bend down. "And this guy." She hefted Orie into view, and he clapped his hand at the sight of the two men. Dean perked up, and Bucky waved.

"Hey Baby!"

"Kid." The two men greeted, and Orie smiled wide enough for his dimple to show.

"Orie's doing well." Maddie made a face. "The smog apparently agrees with him." She shook her head. "I on the other hand, miss the American pollution."

"And me." Bucky grinned. "You miss me."

"Goes without saying," Maddie rolled her eyes. "Although, you're not in the states either. How does Germany fare?"

"Eh." Bucky shrugged. "I go on a lot of walks, eat a lot of plums."

"Fascinating." Maddie snorted, turning her attention to the other man. "How about you, babe? The cases keeping you busy?"

Dean didn't seem fazed by the nickname, but Bucky's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Actually," he shrugged, aiming for nonchalant, and failing. "I found out what The Network was."

Maddie grinned, but Bucky frowned. "The Network?" He asked, a little harsher than he'd intended. Dean looked wary, but Maddie just nodded, handing Orie a pen to play with.

"You know the database that cops use to link cases across city lines?" Maddie bounced Orie, and he giggled. "I dunno the name of it, but it's organize by crime. Sex crimes, child abduction cases, robberies, that kind of thing?"

"I know what you're talking about." Bucky nodded slowly.

"Well ever since about a year ago, there's a new category. Most cops dismiss it, until they need it. It's labeled Unidentified, and cops can use this category to,"

"Say what they saw without feeling like people will think they're crazy?"

Maddie shrugged. "All of the cases fall under Dean's area of expertise," She added vaguely, and Bucky nodded slowly in understanding. "For the most part, the cops could do little more than share crazy stories and be reassured that they weren't insane."

"So there was a whole lot of talking and not a lot of action." Bucky grimaced. "They didn't know how to stop them."

"They weren't trained to deal with Wendingos." Maddie rolled her eyes. "They did what they could. I found out about the category when I was working on an article in Iowa. The guy who ran the website was giving me the rundown and didn't want to explain that category."

"Of course, you got him to talk." Dean smiled, and Maddie shrugged, because really. She did."

"He gave me the name of the guy who'd demanded the new addition: New York Police Commissioner Frank Reagan."

"Big name." Bucky whistled. "Let me guess. He'd dealt with one of these first hand, knew he couldn't make a big deal, so did what he could."

"yep." Maddie shrugged. "I met up with the guy, dropped a name or three," She winked at Dean, who snorted, "And now The Network is working on developing a team of specialists to take on the cases no one wants to."

"In other words, Your boyfriend and his little team are going to do what they've always done, just now they're getting paid for it."

"Well." Maddie looked to Dean. "All I did was name drop. Did someone get a job?"

Dean shook his head at Maddie, trying to stop his smile.

He failed. "Three someone's got a job," he finally admitted, and Maddie clapped her hands, beaming. After a moment, Orie joined in, not knowing why.

Dean shrugged modestly.

"Someone's moving up in the world." Bucky nodded slowly. He looked at Maddie for a moment, staying silent as she peppered Dean with questions, that he answered as quickly as she answered them.

Maddie had smiled more in the last ten minutes than Bucky had ever seen her, in the whole time he'd known her.

"I approve." He said suddenly.

Maddie looked utterly confused at his announcement, but Dean considered Bucky appraisingly before nodding slowly.

"I'm missing something, aren't I?" Maddie asked dryly.

Dean smiled. "Oh Mads," He teased softly. "You miss a lot of things."

And the two turned to easy quips and teasing remarks, and Bucky chuckled.

It was unexpected...but it had promise.

And the two - no, three of them? they looked good together."

* * *

 **Bucky has done blessed that couple. Maddie's not even sure they are a couple? And Dean? He's ON IT.**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	6. Wedding

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

Sherlock didn't see his date until the receiving line.

And he was pleasantly surprised.

Maddie wasn't wearing jeans, and she had no hat. She wore a pale pink dress that skimmed the floor, a thin belt cinching in at her waist. Her hair was down, for once.

But it was little Orion that caught Sherlock's eye.

He was wearing a little suit: black, with a dress shirt that matched Maddie's dress: pale pink, and peeking out from between his tiny, shiny, baby loafers were plaid socks (pink again).

Orion dimpled the second he caught sight of Sherlock, nearly launching out of his mother's arms to get to him.

Luckily Sherlock's reflexes were so honed, he deftly caught the flying baby.

"Whoa, kid!" Maddie scolded, poking Orion's belly. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"Oh no," John smiled awkwardly at Maddie. "No murders today, it's my wedding day."

"Yeah," Maddie scrunched her nose up. "I suppose that would kind of put a damper on the day." She winked at Sherlock. "Or maybe that's just your life now." She pointed at Orie. "You've got him for now?" Sherlock nodded once, and Maddie grinned. "Great. See ya." She pressed a kiss to Orie's cheek, ruffled Sherlock's hair just because she could, then dashed into the reception hall.

"Your neighbor?" John asked slowly.

"My plus one," Sherlock confirmed frostily. John and Mary shared a look, but said nothing, turning, for the moment, back to their guests. Sherlock adjusted Orie so he was being held in one arm, and then did the same.

* * *

"So that's him. Major. Sholto." The moment Sherlock said the man's name, Orie start squirming. Sherlock grunted in surprise at the effort it took to keep Orie from falling to the ground.

Up until that moment, Orie had been the perfect gentlemen. He'd dimpled for Molly, glared at Molly's boyfriend, blinked condescendingly (at least in Sherlock's opinion,) at Gavin, (dammit, Garth? What WAS it?) and tolerated Mrs. Hudson's cheek pinches. And now, suddenly, he begins to fuss? Sherlock shot a glare down at the baby, but luckily his mother showed up at just that moment, a glass of wine in her hand.

"Should you be drinking?" Sherlock said immediately, and Maddie shot him a glare and finished her drink in one gulp.

"Stopped breastfeeding last week." She smiled at Orie. "We're lucky I even made it six months." She dropped her empty glass on a table and reached for Orie, who leaned forward for his mom. "Because seriously, that crap sucks balls."

Mary snorted. "Sorry," she apologized, "I've just never heard someone be so frank about, well." Mary gestured, and Maddie shrugged.

"Sorry. I don't know how else to talk about it. Sherlock's the only adult I ever speak with, so,"

"Ah." Mary nodded immediately. "All right. Makes sense."

Orie began hitting Maddie in the side of the face, and she grunted. "What? What do you want?" She saw the cake on the other side of the room. "Ah. I know what it is." She winked at Sherlock. "Talk to you after I stuff some sugar into this kid."

Sherlock and Mary watched Maddie stride across the room, people moving out of the way for her.

"She has a commanding presence," Mary noted, and Sherlock nodded in agreement.

Maddie paused at John's side when Orie reached out to grab the Major's uniform. Maddie grimaced in apology and tried to unlatch Orie from the man's arm, but Orie screeched loudly, refusing to be swayed. With a slightly uncomfortable smile, the man, the Major, tried to help, but Orie took the opportunity to practically climb into the Major's arms. Once he was properly situated, Orie immediately calmed. After a brief conversation and Maddie's hands waving about dramatically for a few moments, Maddie continued on to the cake table…without her son.

Orie remained happily in the Major's arms, who, when he realized that Orie just wanted to be held by him, relaxed.

* * *

"How is it," Maddie bit into a large piece of cake, appearing at Sherlock's side, speaking as if she didn't know he had a phone pressed to his ear, "that all of a sudden, he likes other people better than me?"

"I'm on the phone."

"With your brother I'm guessing," She said shrewdly, her mouth full of cake. Sherlock looked at her, disgusted and a bit in awe, and she shrugged.

"He showed up when you were out and about one time. At least Orie likes me better than he likes your brother." She shoved another bite of cake into her mouth. "So there's that, I guess."

"You're disgusting." Sherlock noted.

"Go suck a tree." Maddie retorted, walking off with her piece of cake.

"Ah yes," His brother teased on the phone. "Miss Sinclair. Do you, perchance, know who the father of her bastard is? I've had the devil of a time trying to find out."

Sherlock's eyes narrowed into slits and his mouth thinned into a tight line.

"Sherlock?" His brother prodded.

"Go suck a tree," Sherlock snapped before angrily hanging up.

He had a speech to prepare for.

* * *

"what slice are you on, dear?" Mrs. Hudson leaned over to whisper harshly at Maddie.

Maddie paused, fork lifted halfway to her mouth.

"And what glass are you on?" She raised an eyebrow, and Mrs. Hudson huffed.

Greg snorted lightly, trying not to attract Sherlock's ire, but it was no big deal, as soon enough everyone was making noise, reaching for their glasses and rising.

Maddie was in the middle of a large bite, fumbling to put her fork down and reaching for her glass, three seconds behind everyone else.

She, and everyone else at her table jumped at the sound of Sherlock's glass shattering on the ground.

"And down again," Sherlock ordered after a long pause, and Maddie shot a look at Greg before sitting back down along with the rest of the audience. Sherlock rambled on for a few moments, Maddie watched him with narrowed eyes, and Greg was suddenly rising and hurrying out of the room.

"What's going on?" Molly whispered to Maddie.

"If it's what I think it is," Maddie mused, "It's not good." She turned back to listen closely to everything Sherlock was saying.

"Oh, Ladies and gentleman, can't stand it when I finally get the chance to speak for once, Vatican cameos."

Three things happened simultaneously following the end of Sherlocks sentence. John's eyes widened and he straightened his jacket, Orie screeched loudly, and Maddie fell out of her chair.

Maddie jumped up, fixing her hair, eyes wide. "Sorry." She smiled at the wedding guests, shooting Sherlock a serious look. "Too much cake." She smiled awkwardly, shot Molly a serious look, and then hurried out of the room.

Sherlock continued speaking, his mind racing, trying to find the target, trying to narrow it down, talking himself through all the pieces, whizzing through his mind palace at a furious pace…and then it hit him. He turned slowly to the man, to the target, to Major Sholto.

Who was currently holding Orion.

Major Sholto was about to be murdered, and Orion was on his lap.

Sherlock dropped a warning in Sholto's lap and continued to distract the crowd. He missed the moment when Sholto dismissed himself, with Orion still in his arms.

* * *

For a moment; once Sherlock had finished his speech and he and John were rushing to find Sholto, it wasn't the case that was the priority, it was Orion.

Who was in danger because Sholto was in danger.

"Sinclair!" He snapped, running into her in the lobby. "Where did Sholto go?"

"Back to his room." Maddie's eyes widened. "Why? Is he the killer?"

"No, he's the victim. Does he still have Orion?"

"Far as I know. Wait." Maddie frowned. "A killer's after Sholto and Sholto has Orie? I don't THINK so –" She bristled, fists clenching and eyes flashing, and it was so startling that John and Sherlock took a step back.

"Calm yourself, I have him." Lestrade strode towards the panicked group. Maddie reached for her son, who burrowed his face in her neck the moment he could. Maddie gripped him tight and wilted, fight going out of her in seconds. Lestrade patted Maddie's back and turned to Sherlock. "I have her too." He promised. "Go."

Sherlock and John shared a look. "Room?" John asked.

Sherlock grimaced, but then Mary was flying around the corner, "207!" She announced and the trio were flying away, off to solve the murder and save the day.

* * *

"So it was the belt?" Molly's boyfriend squinted. "Well, that's not very clever."

"Did you grow into it, or were you just, born stupid?" Maddie shot the guy a disgusted look. "Agatha Christie couldn't make that crap up."

"Shut it," Molly muttered to her boyfriend, who listened immediately.

"Anyway, it was a good speech." Maddie changed the subject.

"Except for when he said "let's play murder," Lestrade pointed out.

"Are you kidding me?" Maddie snorted, patting Orie's back, who was being held by Molly. "That was the best part."

"There's something not quite right about you, dear." Mrs. Hudson peered over her glasses at Maddie.

"Thanks." Maddie made a face at Mrs. Hudson. "So do you think he'll catch the killer?" she asked the table. Molly nodded immediately, her boyfriend scrunched up his face, and Lestrade chuckled. "If I know that man as well as I think," he began, "Then he's already solved the case and is simply waiting for his audience." As Lestrade spoke, his phone rang, and he looked at it with a chuckle. "And there it is."

"Tell me all about it later?" Maddie asked, and Lestrade rolled his eyes.

"Of course." He patted Orie's head, waved at the rest of the group, and took his leave.

Once Lestrade was out of earshot, Maddie leaned towards Molly's boyfriend- "listen you Sherlock wannabe, you're pissing me off," And off she went. Molly's boyfriend listened with wide eyes, Molly tried to hide her smiles by focusing on Orie, and Mrs. Hudson simply watched, a faint smile evident on her face.

* * *

"Whoa. Where you going?"

Sherlock paused, turning to shoot Maddie a glare.

"Looks like you're leaving." Maddie's arms were crossed and her eyes were narrowed. "The party hasn't even started yet." She pointed out. "Why are you leaving so early?"

Sherlock's lips tightened, and Maddie sighed heavily. "You know how I feel about pep talks," She complained.

"And you know how I feel about pep talks," He snapped.

"Nonetheless," Maddie rolled her eyes, "That's what you've got, and here it comes." She opened her mouth, pausing to think.

"Balls." She raised an eyebrow. "Grow some."

Sherlock huffed. "I've heard this one before."

"And it hasn't sunk in yet. Look, Sherlock," Maddie stepped forward, "You're feeling sorry for yourself. I get that. I feel sorry for myself all the time."

Sherlock snorted and Maddie's mouth quirked into a smile. "Thing is, you can sit here and feel sorry for yourself, or you can change your perspective."

"How?" Sherlock asked slowly.

"You're not losing one person." Maddie shrugged. "You're gaining another person. The assassin isn't stealing John; she's just joining Team Sherlock."

"Assassin?" Sherlock raised an eyebrow, and Maddie winced.

"Long story," she admitted. "Anyway, back to the pep talk." She smirked. "I can feel it coming to a close."

"Thank god," Sherlock said dryly, and Maddie stuck her tongue out at him.

"You got two choices here. You can choose to walk away now. Or you can grow some balls and go back inside."

"Well, what do you suggest?" Sherlock asked, feeling raw, and much too exposed.

"This is a wedding," She raised an eyebrow. "You have several options. You could stuff your face," Sherlock grimaced, "get wasted," Sherlock shuddered and Maddie grinned, "Or," Her smile softened, "You could dance with your date."

Sherlock thought for a moment. "Food later." He decided. "Drink, perhaps. I will," He paused, surprised that he was going to say what he was about to say, "I will take that dance now."

Maddie beamed, grabbed him by the wrist, and dragged him to the edge of the dance floor.

Sherlock was gratified and slightly stunned to see that Mrs. Hudson wink at him, Greg nodded meaningfully, and Molly waved brightly.

Perhaps he wasn't entirely out of place, then. He turned to his date, planning to take her hand, when she hefted a squirming Orie into his arms.

"Go on then." She smiled. "Go dance with your date."

Sherlock squinted his eyes, then looked to Orie, who grabbed at his bowtie.

"Ah, right." His mouth quirked up. "I shall…do that then."

Maddie smirked, her hands plopping onto her his as she watched Sherlock awkwardly take to the dance floor. Highly aware of the looks he was getting, he relaxed when he saw that people were smiling at the sight he made with the baby in his arms, rather than staring at him with pity or discomfort, was usual for him.

It took less than a minute for Sherlock to relax, due in large part to Orie's loud giggles at being spun around.

"That," Greg said lowly, reaching Maddie's side, "is a miracle, right there."

Sherlock bestowed a genuine smile on Orie and spun again, eliciting more giggles and claps from the baby.

"That," Maddie admitted freely, "is the power of a baby."

* * *

Sherlock didn't leave the party early, as he'd planned to. He didn't even leave when John and Mary did.

In fact, Sherlock stayed until last call.

Maddie and Orie left the party later than intended, but if it made Sherlock feel less crappy, well it was worth it.

* * *

 **No freebie in this one: but if wanna, I'll do TWO next week!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	7. Blackmail

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"But what does that mean, coagulate? It sounds disgusting."

"Oh it is." Molly smiled at Maddie, her hands chest deep in the dead man on her table. "But it's what happens."

"So, when I'm dead," Maddie mused, bouncing Orie on her lap, "Can I just have my body shipped here then? You'll take care of me better than the American morgues will."

Molly paused, eyebrows furrowing. "But, wait. Does that mean you'll be leaving London? Going back to America?"

Maddie shot Molly a look. "That's been the plan the whole time," She pointed out. "I'm hardly likely to deviate now."

"Well yes," Molly agreed easily. "But," Molly hesitated as she thought of how to phrase the next sentence, "Sherlock is coping so much better than he would've had you not been around, it's been a very stressful time for him, you know,"

"Yeah, okay." Maddie nodded. "Glad to be of service. But y'all," Maddie raised a finger. "ALL of Y'all, you, Greg, that John guy, and Sherlock specifically – y'all are crazy. I left America to get away from the crazy, and I'm not about to stick around London just for more crazy."

Maddie handed a medical instrument that didn't look too sharp to Orie so he could play with it. "It's a different kind of crazy," Maddie admitted, "But it's still crazy."

"Hmm." Molly quickly stitched up the man on her table. "I do see your point." She moved back to the lab portion of the downstairs, away from the bodies, and Maddie followed.

"So…" Maddie began as she climbed onto Molly's desk. "Sherlock is coping better than you thought he would?"

"Oh yes." Molly smiled. "It could've been so much worse!"

That was when the doors slammed open and John dragged Sherlock in, Molly and a hobo following behind, calling for a drug test.

Orie started crying, Molly was demanding answers about what was going on, Lestrade was storming into the room, and over the shouting, Maddie yelled eyebrow raised,

"So you're saying it could've been worse than THIS?"

* * *

In contrast to the screaming and yelling from minutes before, the judging silence was almost too much to bear.

Sherlock seemed to prefer the silence, especially with the slap and heavy scolding that Molly had just delivered, but it was driving Maddie UP THE WALL.

Especially because while Orie had stopped screaming, he was still agitated and whimpering tightly into his mother's chest.

It was enough to worry Maddie. What had Orie so upset?

Orie was never so fussy. Orie's fussiness also seemed to deeply bother Sherlock as well, because as soon as Molly had finished drawing the blood she'd need for the test, he'd strode towards Orie holding his arms out.

"If you can't calm him down," Sherlock had began angrily, going quiet as instead of falling into Sherlock's arms as Orie was wont to do, Orie instead huddled closer to his mother, screeching angrily in Sherlock's direction.

"Like you'll do any better." Maddie snapped. "You're the reason he's so upset!" She moved away from Sherlock and Orie calmed.

That, it seemed, was when it hit Sherlock. Molly had made him apologize just minutes prior, but Orie's sniffles had Sherlock apologizing again, a little more genuinely.

"I'm sorry. I was undercover."

Maddie handed Orie off to Greg, brightening. "IS that what this is, then?" She breathed a loud sigh of relief. "Thank goodness!"

"You can't believe him," John said, exasperated. "He's an addict! He's lying!"

"I," Maddie poked John in the chest. "Do what I want. Of course I believe him! It's the only explanation."

"Explanation?" Mary raised an eyebrow.

"For Janine." Maddie slapped Sherlock's arm, laughing. "You had me going," She admitted. "I almost thought you were genuinely interested in her."

"I'm not?" Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

"You are?" John and Mary turned to Sherlock.

Sherlock shrugged, and Maddie huffed. "Well, you'll excuse me if I try to pretend that all the time you've spent with her has just been some kind of elaborate hoax. Because thinking it's real?" Maddie shuddered suddenly. "Love is disgusting."

Orie clapped his hands excitedly, and Maddie grinned.

"Teaching them at a young age," She explained proudly.

"More like corrupting them," Sherlock corrected, crossing his arms. "For one so hell-bent on critizing love, you spend an awful lot of time on your laptop."

Maddie's eyes widened, and she scoffed loudly. "That's different," She argued. "That's just a booty call: no feelings involved."

"If you say so," Sherlock and John said together, Sherlock condescendingly and John doubtfully.

"Hey!" Maddie pointed a finger. "Can we go back to talking about druggie Sherlock and his weird new girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend?" John whirled on Sherlock. "What's that supposed to mean?"

With the attention successfully back on Sherlock, Maddie smirked and collected her son, not failing to notice the sour look Sherlock shot her way as they exited.

* * *

Sherlock watched Maddie and Orie leave, surprised at his feeling of abandonment, for he was still surrounded by people, people who had in fact been in his life for much longer and been through much more with him than the single mother who'd just left. For an annoying neighbor who appeared out of nowhere, Sherlock was surprisingly attached to the American.

Even if he knew practically nothing about her.

Perhaps that was it. Perhaps it was just the mystery that intrigued him.

It couldn't be actual affection.

It just…couldn't be.

* * *

Maddie had been in London for almost four months the first time she met her boss.

To be fair, Maddie's boss was a very busy man, and he could hardly spare the time to chat with a low-level reporter who wrote a vaguely popular crime column.

And yet…Maddie shifted slightly in the high backed chair she sat in, nervously eyeing the white-haired man sitting across from her, behind an ornate desk.

"And how do you like London?" He inquired, pouring her a cup of coffee. Maddie raised an eyebrow at the expensive looking china. She'd never told him she preferred coffee over tea.

"It's the most exotic place I've ever been to," She admitted freely, lifting the cup and taking a sip.

It was black…just the way she liked it. How did he know that?

"I do believe you short stint in Sokovia must make our foggy London streets pale in comparision," Maddie's boss scoffed lightly.

And how did he know THAT?

"Miss Sinclair," Her boss adjusted his glasses slightly. "My field of expertise is knowledge. My execution of that knowledge shouldn't be surprising to you."

"And yet," Maddie shrugged. She knew his game now.

He could read minds.

Of course.

* * *

It was officially time to move. London was supposed to have been normal: She'd left "super" New York for "supernatural" Kansas and "supernatural" Kansas for "superknowledgable" London it seemed.

Maddie wanted to raise her son in a place that didn't need to be described in quotations. She wanted average. And London was unfortunately not fitting the bill.

First the assassin. Now her mind-reading boss.

"I'm not reading your mind."

That's was a mind reader would say…right after they'd read her mind. But Maddie simply quirked an eyebrow and waited for an explanation.

"I simply…know."

"Really?" Maddie leaned forward. "And what is it you think you know…Mr. Magnussen?"

"I know you're a single mother with an infant son. I know you appeared out of nowhere and spent a good deal of time with the American Avengers before relocating to Kansas. I know that you gave birth in Iowa and are a frequent visitor to a quaint farmhouse where a quaint family with a not so quaint man attempts to live his quaint little life. I know that you moved to London four months ago and are currently residing in 221C, Baker Street. I know that Sherlock Holmes is your neighbor. I know that you and your son are close with him. And I know that he is investigating me."

Maddie had stiffened the longer Magnussen had spoken, her eyes flashing angrily when Magnussen brought up Sherlock.

"You seem to know a lot." She admitted grudgingly. "What do you plan on doing with that knowledge?"

Magnussen laughed. "It's not what I will do with it," He admitted, eyes twinkling. For the cute old man persona he had going on, this man was very dangerous, Maddie knew. She would do well to not anger him. "It's what you will do because of what I know."

"I'm not lifting a finger for you." Maddie snorted, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms.

"You don't have to." Magnussen said smoothly. "All you have to do is listen." He leaned forward when Maddie said nothing. "Sherlock Holmes is trying to stop me. He can't. But he will try. As his neighbor, and now that Mr. Watson is moved out and married, you are closest to the man. Keep me informed on his progress."

"Why?" Maddie asked plainly. "You know everything, you probably have your own team of spies. What's the point of planting another, mostly unwilling bug?"

"I have not gotten where I am by being reckless." Mr. Magnussen took a sip of his cup of tea. "I prefer to be cautious. You will be my inside source."

Maddie watched as Magnussen set his teacup onto his desk and picked up a napkin to wipe the edges of his mouth with. He seemed so certain that she would do what he wanted. Maybe Londoners were more willing to cave to this man. But Maddie was American.

And she had balls.

* * *

"No." Maddie stood shooting Magnussen a level look. "I won't be your anything." She turned away, moving to the door.

"Ah, but you will." Magnussen spoke up. "Because I know more than I have told you. More than you even know."

Maddie turned slightly, shooting her boss a dubious look. He held up a yellow manila envelope with a bright smile. "Your son. He has his father's eyes."

Maddie snarled, striding towards Magnussen, pausing when Magnussen held up a finger.

"Ah, but that's right," he said smoothly. "You don't know who your son's father is." He tilted his head. "Or maybe you do? You just don't want to admit it to yourself. Because you know what he will do when he finds out he is a father and you kept that from him…kept his son from him." Magnussen tilted his head, and Maddie's breath caught, her fists clenching.

"It's my understanding that the American courts usually side with the mother during custody cases." Magnussen dropped the manila folder onto his desk, folding his hands primly, trapping the folder between his hands and the desk. "In your situation, that will not be the case. You know that."

"You're threatening me." Maddie was furious, but also oddly impressed. The man was old, but he was cunning.

"I am simply telling you what I know." Magnussen corrected. "And my job is to share my knowledge…but only if it benefits me. Sometimes it benefits me more to keep it to myself. You decide how my knowledge will be beneficial.

"If I spy on Sherlock, my dirty secret remains between us." Maddie summarized. "If not, you'll blast it from the rooftops."

"Your choice." Magnussen finished.

Maddie stood still for a few moments, mind racing. Then she nodded. Magnussen beamed, thinking he had won…then Maddie began to speak.

"I look forward to seeing my picture on the front page." She moved back to the door. "Make sure it's a profile shot," She advised. "I look much more menacing from the side." Maddie shot Magnussen, who sat in his chair, mouth open and frozen in shock, a wide smile and a wink.

Once she'd closed the door behind her though, the smile dropped, and she strode hurriedly from the office, pulling a phone out of her ear.

* * *

She'd just handed the man a loaded gun and gave him permission to aim and shoot.

Now she had to hurry and throw up a shield before he pulled the trigger.

* * *

 **SHIELD...get it?**

 **Anyway...**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	8. Confrontation

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"Hello?"

"Hey. Is this John Watson?"

"Yes?" John's yes dragged on as he attempted to figure out who he was speaking to. Mary, seated across from him in their living room, raised an eyebrow.

"You're at home right? Can you open the front door?" John's eyebrows furrowed as a knock echoed throughout the house, and he stood and moved to open it after a moment.

"Miss Sinclair?" He asked dumbly, staring at the woman in front of him, her son perched on one him, a diaper bag hanging off one shoulder.

"That's me." Maddie handed Orion to John, who took him after a moment. Then Maddie handed over the diaper bag. "All his stuff is in there, including a quick write up of his usual schedule. He usually eats three to four times a day, six to eight ounces each time. He's down to two naps daily, one in the morning one in the afternoon, and if you just lay him down and throw a blanket over him he'll put himself to sleep. He does sleep all through the night, but he tends to wake up at seven am, every morning. Have fun with that. There's some baby food in the bag too, but he only eats that during dinner, every other meal is still formula. I should be back in two days."

John listened dumbly as Maddie rattled off all the information, blinking when she leaned forward to kiss Orion.

"Thanks." She finished. "I mean it."

Then Maddie was hurrying towards the cab waiting on the curb. John looked at the baby on his hip, who dimpled at him.

* * *

"Who was that?" Mary asked.

"Sherlock's neighbor." John moved back to the living room. "I guess we're babysitting for the next two days."

Mary blinked. "Well then. There must've been an emergency of some sort?" She guessed.

John shrugged. He hadn't really asked. "At least we'll get some practice in?" He tried, and Mary smiled.

"Well." She said. "I guess we will."

* * *

Maddi was exhausted.

Why had no one told her emotions were so tiring?

To be fair, she'd talked with Magnussen Friday afternoon, dropped Orie off at the Watson's Friday evening, flew all night, met with, well, Saturday morning, spent six hours talking with that idiot, caught another red-eye and now she was back in London, striding into her boss's office, and it wasn't even ten am.

"Miss Sinclair!" Janine stood up hurriedly from her seat. "What are you doing here?"

"Magnussen." Maddie growled. Janine flinched at the angry tone in Maddie's voice, and Maddie would've felt bad, except she'd just…never really liked the chick. "I'm here to see him."

"But you don't have an appointment," Janine began, but Maddie interrupted her.

"He'll want to see me," she said harshly.

"I can't just let you," Janine began again, but it wasn't Maddie that interrupted the woman this time, although Maddie would've loved to speak over the woman again.

It was Magnussen. "That's fine, Janine, I'd love to speak with Miss Sinclair."

Magnussen smiled genially at Maddie who simply growled and followed Magnussen back to his desk.

* * *

"I understand," he began as soon as they'd stepped into the privacy of his office, "That you've made my Monday edition quite unnecessary." He handed Maddie a copy of the paper that was meant to come out the next day.

"I see you took my advice," She noted, taking in the front page, where a large picture of her, holding Orie in front of Buckingham palace took up much of the top fold. Her face was in profile, but Orie was looking straight at the camera, eyebrows furrowed angrily, easily visible even in the grainy photo.

AMERICAN SCANDAL FINDS REFUGE ON LONDON SOIL, the title read. The caption of the picture shared a little more information: _reporter Madison Sinclair tours the town with son Orion Sinclair, whose father, was not available, (or was entirely unaware) of the excursion._

Maddie dropped the paper with a look of disgust. "An entirely unnecessary scoop." She agreed. "Looks like you lost your big advantage over me." She crossed her arms. "Whatever are you going to do now?"

Magnussen smiled, which was not the reaction a normal person would have to hearing that their plans were ruined.

"Your unavailability is unfortunate, but not crippling to me. There are others."

Maddie's eyes narrowed, and Magnussen turned to his computer, keys clicking obscenely loudly in the otherwise silent office.

"There's always the recently married Watsons," He spoke up, and Maddie's fists clenched.

"You leave those poor normal idiots alone," She ordered.

"Normal?" Magnussen raised an eyebrow in surprise. "My dear girl, you are not the only one with a secret past. Mr. Watson is visibly scarred by his well-known past, so there's not much influence I can have with him. But his wife? Those scars are currently concealed…" Magnussen tilted his head. "but that can easily be modified. I do need a new front page scandal."

"You leave the poor assassin alone, then." She demanded, and at Maddie's words, both of Magnussen's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Perhaps her scars aren't so easily concealed," Magnussen mused. "If you are already aware of her past."

It was Maddie's turn to look surprised now.

"You didn't know then?" He guessed after a moment. "Not for sure?"

Maddie shrugged. "It was more of a gut thing," She admitted easily. "But it doesn't matter. You leave them alone!"

"Or what?" Magnussen shook his head. "You have no leverage against me. No one does. That's why I'm so successful. I remain untouchable, and the world is mine to influence."

"You don't get to win." Maddie shook her head. "Where's your proof? Your evidence?"

"I don't need evidence." Magnussen chuckled. "I just need to know, and then to print my knowledge. The world convicts from there."

"That's….evil. But genius," Maddie admitted. "It does make you practically untouchable. But you've forgotten one thing."

"And what is that?" Magnussen looked to his laptop, disregarding Maddie and focusing on whatever he was typing. Maddie grit her teeth.

"You might not have something to use against me, not anymore, but when you threaten my friends, you threaten me. And nobody threatens me and gets away with it!"

"And what are you going to do?" Magnussen paused in his typing, his hands still resting on the keys of his laptop, his focus on Maddie once more. "You surround yourself with powerful people, but you are hardly one yourself, and you're very guarded. You won't tell anyone about this; it's too personal, too embarrassing." Maddie grimaced, because the old man was right. "You'd have to kill me to shut me up, and you won't kill me. You can't."

Maddie's shoulders sagged, because it was true. She couldn't kill him. She wouldn't.

The lights began to flicker, and Magnussen looked up, confused. After a moment, the flickering stopped, and Magnussen looked back at Maddie. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, his laptop sparked, and Magnussen began to shake. The lights flickered more furiously and the laptop sparked and hissed and Magnussen continued to shake, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. The laptop cord caught fire, the lights continued to flicker, and still Magnussen shook.

Then suddenly, it all stopped. The lights stopped flickering, the laptop went silent, and Magnussen slumped in his chair.

* * *

Maddie took a step forward, eyeing the lights and laptop in turn. When nothing else happened, she strode forward, placing the tips of two fingers against Magnussen's neck.

She felt nothing, and moved her fingers to the man's wrist.

Again…nothing.

Maddie stepped away, pulled her phone out of her pocket, and quickly dialed a number.

* * *

"Listen," She said the second the phone picked up. "So, I know you've been looking into that Magnussen guy. But uh," She shot a look at the man. "He's no longer a problem. Also," Maddie winced. "If Lestrade calls with an electrocution case…don't take it."

She hung up in the middle of Sherlock's blustering and hurried out of the office. Janine was mysteriously absent from her desk, and Maddie breathed a sigh of relief, hurrying from the room and making towards the elevators.

* * *

Maddie fidgeted nervously in the elevator, wishing it would move faster.

She had to get away from the scene of the crime, because Magnussen's lifeless body would surely be found sooner rather than later, and Maddie wanted to be as far away as possible.

She would also like to see her son before she was dragged away to life in prison.

Maddie did NOT kill Magnussen. She could've maybe stuck him in an oxygen less and killed him that way, but electricity? That wasn't her thing, she didn't DO IT.

But she could still be blamed for it if she were close by. So Maddie was doing what she did best…she was making a run for it.

* * *

It was just her luck though, that Maddie's supervisor caught her in the elevator when it stopped on the third floor and dragged her into the office, to chat about her last week.

It turned into an hour long conversation, and Maddie made it to the lobby just in time to see Lestrade stride in, followed closely by Sherlock.

Because, of course, he had listened to Maddie tell him not to case, and then did the exact opposite.

Of course.

* * *

 **STRESSFUL.**

 **No Dean extra this week, because you'll get plenty of him next week! *hint hit***

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	9. One Last Pep Talk

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

You don't tell Sherlock Holmes not to do the thing.

Because that only makes Sherlock Holmes want to do the thing even MORE.

So when Lestrade called, Sherlock jumped at the case. He wasn't surprised when he walked into the lobby to see Maddie attempting to slink out the door, and in fact, he was quite prepared.

No way was Madison able to walk past Sherlock when he was holding her son.

Though, there was a moment there when Maddie seemed on the verge of doing just that, eyeing the front doors with longing, paused on the balls of her feet as if she wanted nothing more than to bolt.

Which was the first sign that whatever Sherlock was about to see was a big deal.

Fortunately, Orie caught sight of his mother and started screeching loudly, which made Maddie's choice for her, and she strode over to pluck her baby out of Orie's arms.

* * *

"He's missed you." Sherlock said, pointedly. "I hope wherever you went was worth it."

Maddie snorted. "I dunno about that," She muttered, falling in step with Sherlock and Lestrade as they made their way up to the top floor.

Sherlock stepped into Magnussen's office, breathing a nearly unnoticeable sigh of relief.

The man really was dead. Lestrade had said as much, but Sherlock didn't relax until he was sure.

Magnussen was definitely dead. "Electrocution." Sherlock announced immediately.

"So, an unfortunate accident then?" Lestrade asked, watching Sherlock work from a few feet away. Maddie stood next to Lestrade, and she nodded quickly in agreement.

"No." Sherlock shook his head. "This was murder." Lestrade's eyebrows furrowed, and Maddie huffed angrily.

"You'll need to check with the secretary and see everyone who had access to his laptop, everyone he met with today, anyone who's had multiple meeting with the man over the last few days, anyone who's been visibly and vocally upset with him," Sherlock turned as he spoke, to find Lestrade nodding as he wrote down everything Sherlock said.

Sherlock paused mid-sentence though as he caught sight of Maddie's face, pale and carefully blank. He glanced down at her white knuckles, at the way she nervously shifted on her feet, at the way she stared resolutely back at Sherlock, resigned.

"On second thought," Sherlock began slowly, "Perhaps I was a bit too hasty."

"Hmm?" Lestrade looked up from his notes. "What do ya mean?"

"About this clearly being murder." Sherlock said uneasily. "This might not be…that."

"You just said, two seconds ago, certain as could be, that this was murder." Lestrade huffed. "Now you're saying it's not?"

"I'm saying it might not be." Sherlock hedged, watching Maddie's shoulders slump.

"Well when will you be certain?" Lestrade asked nastily. "Magnussen is high profile, Sherlock. I don't want to deal with this any longer than I have to,"

"It appears I've arrived at the perfect time then." Sherlock hissed at the new voice, Lestrade and Maddie turning slightly to take in the suit-clad man stride in, an umbrella swinging idly from one hand. "Allow me to take this case off of your hands, inspector."

"Eh?" Lestrade bristled. No matter how much he didn't want to deal with this case, he wasn't going to let someone take it from him. "Who're you?"

"Mycroft Holmes." The man introduced. "I work with the Government, and seeing as how high-profile the deceased was, it's been decided that this case must be dealt with very delicately. We've determined Mr. Magnussen's case to be an unfortunate accident."

"You haven't even investigated yet." Sherlock snapped.

"And yet, isn't that the same conclusion you were about to reach?" Mycroft stepped forward smoothly. "We will be more than happy to investigate further if that's what you want…" He shot a pointed look at Maddie, who grimaced and held Orie a little tighter.

"No." Sherlock said tightly. "No, that won't be necessary."

"Yes, well." Mycroft sniffed. As I thought. Inspector," Mycroft turned back to Lestrade, who just gaped at the man. "Your services are appreciated, but no longer needed. My men will take it from here. Sherlock, Miss Sinclair? If you would escort me out?"

Sherlock grimaced, but Maddie nodded dumbly, and soon enough the three of them (four, if you included Orie,) were ensconced in the elevator, sharing an awkward silence.

* * *

It was Mycroft that broke the silence.

"Impressive work, Miss Sinclair."

Sherlock snapped to look down at Maddie. "So you DID murder him!" He said triumphantly.

"No!" Maddie shook her head. "I didn't! I didn't touch him! Or his laptop!"

"How did you know it was the laptop that killed him then?" Sherlock interrogated, and Maddie made a face, caught.

"I was in the room when it happened," she grudgingly admitted. "I also may have seen it happen. But I didn't do it!"

"Are you certain?" Mycroft leaned over to level a look at Maddie, and she grimaced.

"I ," She paused. "Okay I might've." She shook her head in disbelief. "Oh my God. I'm a killer. A cold-blooded killer. I'm a murderer. A mother that murders. I'm an assassin…who assasses people…my god, I'm a criminal. I can't believe it. I-"

"Enough." Sherlock rolled his eyes. "He deserved it."

"Just because he deserved it doesn't mean I had to be the one to execute it!" Maddie snapped. "I would much rather you have killed him!"

"I had planned on it!" Sherlock retorted. "But SOMEBODY beat me to it!"

"And now I'm going to go to prison, and my son will have to be raised by wolves, and"

"You're not going to jail, Miss Sinclair." Mycroft interrupted. "No one will ever know this was murder, let alone who committed the act."

"What?" Maddie blinked. "You're going to cover up my crime for me? Why?"

"Because Magnussen was a threat against all of Britain that we could not extinguish, and you did it for us." He reasoned. "You've done the entire world a great service. If you are ever in need," Mycroft handed Maddie a thick, embossed card, "Feel free." He nodded meaningfully. "Anything at all." The elevator doors slid open and Mycroft strode away, Sherlock and Maddie stepping into the lobby at a much more sedate pace.

* * *

"Fancy," Maddie made a face at the card in her hand as they walked.

"That card," Sherlock raised an eyebrow at her, "is a no strings attached IOU from the British Government."

"So it's like," Maddie thought for a moment. "One of those get out of jail free cards from the monopoly game?"

Sherlock leaned back in surprise. "What?"

"Orie loves that game." She admitted.

"Orie is six months old." Sherlock argued.

"Orie is a six month old…who loves monopoly." Maddie grinned. "Get over it. Back to this card. What should I do with it?"

"Hold onto it," Sherlock advised. "With the way you're going, you'll need it soon enough." Maddie made a face at him.

"Cute." She rolled her eyes. "Listen: I just got away with murder: I think we should celebrate."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Sherlock shoved his hands into his pockets as they exited the building. "A meal on me? The imbibing of an outrageous amount of alcohol? An hour alone so you can video chat?" Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

"None of the above." Maddie grinned. "I feel a pep talk coming on."

Sherlock groaned. "You know how I despise your pep talks!"

"Well," Maddie stuck her tongue out at Sherlock. "It's a good thing the pep talk isn't for you."

"Really?" Sherlock straightened. "Who is it for then?" He asked, and Maddie, instead of answering, simply smiled and held up her hand to motion for a cab.

* * *

"Let me just start by saying thanks for watching the kid for me." Maddie nodded seriously at John and Mary, who sat together on their couch, staring bemusedly at Maddie who stood in front of them. Sherlock watched from the armchair, Orie in his lap. "There was a conversation I needed to have that I didn't want Orie to be there for. Thanks for asking me how it went, it went very well," John and Mary shared a smile as Maddie continued, "So I appreciate your help there. Now let me continue by saying;" Maddie took a deep breath.

"Balls." Her bluntness had Mary and John freezing in shock. "Grow some." She continued, and Sherlock smirked.

It was much easier to listen to a pep talk when it WASN'T directed at you, turns out.

"You guys are married to each other, your future is together, but you can't build a future until you've shared your past."

Mary stiffened, and John, who felt it, shot her a confused look.

"Man Watson," Maddie pointed at John, "This lady is your wife. You love her. You also love chaos and adventure and craziness. If you didn't love that nonsense, you wouldn't be friends with Sherlock, and yet you are. Part of the reason you're so crazy about your wife is because all of those things you love, the chaos and adventure and craziness? All of that is a part of her, even if she doesn't show it, even if you didn't know about that part of her, it's always been there, and you fell in love with that. Don't be mad at her because you didn't acknowledge that part of yourself. Be mad because she kept secrets from you."

John's eyebrows furrowed and he looked at Mary, who was studiously avoiding his gaze. He turned back to Maddie when she chuckled. "But the mystery is just another thing you love. Listen to what she has to say and feel what you need to: but communicate. Talk it through, argue, but remember why you married her, and think of the future. If you get too hung up on the past, the future disappears. Don't let the future disappear.

"Lady Watson," Maddie turned to Mary. "Magnussen is dead. There is no longer anyone holding your past against you except for yourself. Tell your husband, let him decide whether he's going to hold your past against you, which he shouldn't because he has a past himself, just saying, or whether he's going to focus on the future. I think he wants that future more than he cares about your past, and you're not letting yourself want that future because of your past. Clear the air, be honest, and let the future be a possibility. You two have the potential to be something amazing, as much as I hate to admit it, because love disgusts me,"

Sherlock snorted, and Maddie rolled her eyes. "But you guys could be the real deal, if you'd just grow some balls and be real with each other and let the future be more important than the past."

"So what is it that I don't know?" John asked seriously, and Mary hesitated. Sherlock and Maddie shared a look, and moved to the kitchen while Mary began to speak in low tones.

* * *

Twenty minutes later John stormed into the room. "You knew all of that then, did you?" He snapped.

"Nope." Maddie grinned, and John deflated a little. He looked at Sherlock, who shrugged.

"I'm not informed either," He admitted, and John slumped more.

"So now what?" He asked.

"Now," Maddie smirked. "You feel things. Are you feeling them?"

"Yes." John grit out.

"What are you feeling?" Maddie prodded.

"Anger." John said immediately. He thought. "Betrayal." He added after a moment. "Disappointment. Also…" He sighed heavily. "Understanding."

"You understand where she's coming from?" Maddie clarified, and John fidgeted.

"A bit," he admitted.

"Okay." Maddie thought for a moment. "Now you need to consider your options."

"Which are what?"

"You either adjust to her past and stay with her or you refuse to move past the hurt and leave her." John flinched, and Maddie shrugged. "Those are your choices. Do you grow a pair, or do you give up?"

John sighed heavily, ran a hand through his hair, and moved back to the living room.

* * *

"Impressive," Sherlock said after a moment.

Maddie smirked. "I know." She agreed.

* * *

It was a few hours later, when John and Mary were holding hands and smiling at each other, that Maddie finally decided it was time to leave.

"It was nice knowing you crazies," She began. "I'll miss you."

"Whoa." Sherlock made a face. "Are you leaving?"

Maddie took her baby from Sherlock's arms and laughed. "Did you really think I would stay after a grandpa threatened me and then my friends and then I somehow accidentally killed him?"

Mary's eyebrows raised in surprise, and John choked. Maddie shook her head. "I'm getting me and my baby back to America before someone breaks into my apartment and tries to kill me.

Maddie got a hug from Mary, a firm handshake from John, and then she and Sherlock were headed back to 221.

* * *

"You're going to miss me." She brought up.

Sherlock huffed loudly. "I won't." He argued. Maddie grinned.

"Oh yeah. You're going to miss me so much." Sherlock rolled his eyes, but didn't argue. Why would he, when he knew what she was saying was the truth.

He WAS going to miss her. And her little boy too.

"Whoa." Sherlock stopped Maddie from climbing the steps to 221, eyes narrowed.

"What?" She asked loudly. Sherlock inclined his head, and even in the dark of the night, she saw his head tilt, and followed his gaze to the door of 221, which stood ajar. That's when she noticed a light on in her living room.

Maddie hadn't left a light on.

Which meant someone was already in her house.

"Oh my God." Maddie huffed. "It's already happened!"

"Be quiet and stay behind me," Sherlock ordered.

Maddie rolled her eyes but did as Sherlock said because she wanted to…not because he told her to.

Sherlock slowly entered 221, Maddie behind him, both of her arms wrapped around the sleeping baby. As the duo got closer, they could hear voices.

"Well they're not being very quiet, are they?" She pointed out in a whisper, and Sherlock nodded in agreement.

Sherlock moved closer to Maddie's open front door, straining to catch the conversation.

"She's going to totally freak out when she comes home to see her front door ajar," a deep voice spoke up.

"Probably," another voice agreed. "Also, she is not expecting us." Sherlock frowned and motioned Maddie closer, so she could hear the conversation.

"Of course she's not expecting us." A third voice spoke up. "It's a surprise visit. She's not supposed to expect us!"

Maddie's face brightened at the third voice, and she handed Orie to Sherlock, then hurried into the room.

"Jerks!" She grinned widely as she entered her living room, three tall men whirling to face her.

Sherlock watched, eyes narrowed in the doorway, as the three men grinned at Maddie. One of the men, his grin a little brighter than the others, strode forward and wrapped both arms around Maddie, lifting her into the air. Maddie wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed back, and Sherlock's eyes narrowed further.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Maddie muttered into the tall man's neck, so it came out sounding more like "Wuf mur dung hair?" Somehow, he understood her.

"Just thought we'd come and say hello." He explained, finally releasing Maddie. Maddie smiled, shaking her hand, moving to greet the other two men, though they didn't get hugs.

"Bullcrap." She called. "You hate planes. You would never get on one willingly." She turned an accusing smile at the first man, turning back to the other two guys before the first man could speak up.

The videochat guy, Sherlock assumed. He grudgingly admitted the man wasn't hideous: he had a certain, rugged appeal, if that's what someone was into.

The way Maddie was lit up made Sherlock realize that apparently, that's what MADDIE was into. The other two, whom Maddie smiled at and spoke with easily, well, one was obviously a brother. The third was not related to the brothers, but they were close. Sherlock cleared his throat after a moment, and Maddie turned.

"Oh, right. Guys, this is Sherlock Holmes, my upstairs neighbor. Sherlock, this is Castiel, we were roommates when I was in Kansas, and these are Cas' coworkers, Sam and Dean Winchester."

The tallest man, with the longest hair, stepped forward. "Holmes? You're the famous detective then? I've heard about you."

"Of course you have." Sherlock sniffed. He shot Sam a wary look. "I've never heard of you."

"You don't talk about us?" Dean turned to Maddie, pretending to be hurt. "You embarrassed?"

"Oh no," Sherlock spoke up before Maddie could say anything. "I know all about YOU." He shot Dean an unimpressed look. "I've just never heard about them." He jerked his head at the other two.

Dean's chest puffed up, and Sam shot Maddie a look. She shoved him.

"Shut up," She muttered. "No…" She crossed her arms and leveled a glare at the three men. "Don't shut up. Please tell me what you're doing here and why you broke into my apartment."

"Oh right. That." The brothers shared a look and Cas shifted nervously. That's when Orie woke up.

* * *

Usually Orie woke up slowly, snuffling and rubbing his eyes and wriggling his body. But at the sound of Dean's voice Orie shot awake, eyes wide and little face breaking into a wide smile. Before his eyes were even fully opened his arms were reaching out towards Dean, who beamed just as brightly as Orie and reached for the baby.

Maddie smiled as she watched Dean wrap his arms around Orie, and Sherlock grunted.

Sherlock didn't want to trust these men with Maddie and Orie, but Orie seemed overly fond of the green-eyed brute, and Orie was, unfortunately, a great judge of character.

"They know each other well then?" Sherlock asked Maddie, who grinned.

"Nope." She answered brightly. "They've only met in person twice." She sighed. "I guess Orie just likes who he likes."

"Hmm." Sherlock made a face. "I suppose," He began slowly, "if Orie likes him, then I will approve."

"Oh good. You're blessing was the only thing holding me back. I can now move back to America in peace."

"You're moving back?" Cas, the shorter man with the blue eyes turned to Maddie. "When?"

"Orie and I pack up tomorrow morning and have a 9pm flight." She announced, and Dean shot her a wide eyed look.

"You're telling me," He began slowly, "That if we'd just waited two days, I wouldn't have had to get on a damn plane?"

Maddie grinned unapologetically. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Dean sighed heavily, turning his attention back to Orie when the little man placed both tiny palms on either side of Dean's face.

"I couldn't have waited another two days," he finally admitted, and Maddie smiled.

* * *

Sherlock rolled his eyes and shot Maddie a calculated look.

For someone so against Love…she was being surprisingly sappy at the moment.

Perhaps the craziness of London wasn't the only reason she was leaving.

* * *

 **No Dean extra because Dean is there! And he braved a plane? Cute.**

 **Last chapter up next!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	10. Epilogue

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"It's been two weeks, Greg." Maddie opened a box with a grunt, throwing newspaper around as she began to unpack her plates. Headphones dangled from her ear, her phone tucked precariously into the back pocket of her jeans. A small speaker hung from her head phone cord just near her mouth, and she snorted into it. "How are you still mad at me?"

Greg, speaking into his cell from his office in London, snorted back. "You quit, moved away, and forgot to tell me. I'm never letting this go." He leaned back in his seat, rolling his eyes.

"To be fair," Maddie pointed out dryly, "I didn't tell anyone. Also; it's not like I've been planning the move for months and keeping it from you…it was all very unexpected." She grimaced at the boxes she'd packed up in a day and still, two weeks later, weren't even a little bit unloaded.

"Yeah right, whatever." Greg didn't sound like he believed her, but back in his office, his shoulders relaxed. "So where did you end up? Back in Kansas?"

"Nope, Washington. Seattle, specifically."

"Never heard of it." Greg made a face when his office door swung open. He held up a finger, and Sherlock, standing in his doorway, made a face, but stayed silent. "You plan on sticking around? Maybe stay someplace longer than a few months?"

"We'll see." But Maddie made a face. Sticking around wasn't really something she did, exactly. But…it might be nice, to try something new. She jumped as the phone in her pocket began to vibrate.

"Oops, Molly is calling, I've gotta go."

"Right." Greg motioned Sherlock into a seat. "I should go too. Tell Molly I said hello."

"Don't tell me what to do," Maddie said without any heat. "See ya." She hung up on Greg, his laughter ringing in her ears as she answered Molly's call.

It was, apparently, just the day for long distance phone calls.

* * *

"Hey Mols."

"What is the population of the state of Washington?" Molly's voice was unusually brisk. Maddie didn't know it was because Molly was focused on cutting the heart out of the dead guy on her table, but it was more the question than the tone that had Maddie making a face.

"Why?" She asked slowly.

"Science." Molly grunted as the threw back a large patch of skin.

"Okay. Uh," Maddie squinted as she thought. "7.062 million, as of 2014. Seattle alone is 652,405 as of 2013. That what you needed?"

"Yes." Molly dropped the heart onto her scale and smiled. "Thank you."

Maddie pulled out plates and cups, stacking them on her kitchen island, waiting for Molly to speak up. When the line remained silent for long moments, Maddie chuckled. "You were just using the question as an excuse to call me?" She guessed, and Molly sighed in defeat.

"Yes." She admitted immediately. "I didn't think you'd know the answer."

"I do my research before I move to a place," Maddie explained, returning to her unpacking.

"Really?" Molly sounded intrigued. "So you know the population in-"

"A whopping 8.539 million, as of 2014," Maddie answered readily. "You wanna explain why you're really calling?"

"I miss you," Molly blurt out. She pulled her gloves off with a huff. "When you were here it was almost like I had an actual friend."

"Mols." Maddie furrowed her eyebrows. "You do know that I am your actual friend, right?"

"Well, yeah, of course, I mean, really? You are?" Maddie laughed at the surprise that colored Molly's startled question.

"We've ripped bodies apart together. In my book, we're best friends."

"Oh." Molly smiled brightly. "Well. How is your new place?"

"Huge." Maddie shook her head and glared at the "place" in question. "It's about 2,000 square feet more than I need, and all of my crap fits in one room."

"Well, maybe this is a place you can grow into?" Molly tried helpfully, but Maddie snorted.

"Nah. Two homeless chicks tried to steal my wallet the other day. Maybe I'll invite them to move in."

"Or there's that," Molly made a face. "I suppose. What about that nice man you were telling me about? The unemployed one? Is he closer?"

"Well," Maddie started moving the stacked dishes into the cupboards. "He's in the country. And he's also legitimately employed now, so that's promising."

"Oh? Doing what?" To be fair, Molly had never met the man, but as Maddie described him, he was much too wild for Molly's tastes. For Maddie? The man was practically perfect.

"He's a detective, like what Greg is." Maddie closed the plates cupboard and opened the cup cupboard. "Except, well, he investigates specific crimes, and only for certain places that recognize his department. I mean, his department is looking to expand, but right now they kind of only come when called.

"So," Molly squinted. "Like Sherlock?"

Maddie was silent, considering that. "Actually, pretty much exactly like Sherlock. Except he doesn't work with one specific department, he works with a bunch of them."

"I see now! That's very exciting, but is he around much then?"

"Well," Maddie tilted her head. "For the amount of travel he does, I've surprisingly enough seen a lot of him." Maddie smiled and waved out her living room window. "But it's really chill right now. Anyway," Maddie turned back to her dishes. "How are you? What are you up to?"

"Oh!" Molly beamed. "I've just dissected the most fascinating specimen!"

* * *

Ten minutes later, when Maddie's phone buzzed, informing her of another call, Maddie gladly concluded the graphic conversation she was holding with Molly to find out who ELSE had decided to call her.

"Baby question," Watson blurt out the second Maddie had pressed answer, not even giving Maddie a chance to say hello. "How do you get one to sleep when they should be napping but they really don't want to?"

Maddie rolled her eyes and set down the stack of cups in her hands. "Okay," she said matter of factly, "here's what you do; take the tiny beast and wrangle him into a halfway position. You'll want his head in the crook of your elbow and the rest of its crazy body tucked in as tight and close to your stomach as possible. At this point, this kid is going to be screaming and thrashing: you let it happen. It wears the thing out. Now, the next thing you're going to do is start spanking the kid on its bottom. Find a rhythm, and just keep at it. That kid's screaming is going to pick up double time and the thrashing is going to increase by ungodly proportions. Just keep spanking that baby bottom, because, I promise to you, that kid will go limper than, well….limp."

"Thanks for not elaborating." John said after a moment.

"You're welcome." Maddie grinned and threw the empty box in front of her to the side.

One box down. A billion more to go.

"But really? Spanking?" John asked incredulously when he regained the ability to speak.

"It's proven science." Maddie pulled another box towards her with a grimace. "Something to do in the womb, or whatever."

"Right." John was silent for a moment. "Well. It doesn't hurt to give it a try."

"Yeah." Maddie grunted as she ripped the lid of the box open. "Let me know how it goes."

"Oh, and uh, how's your thing? With the…guy?" John asked as an afterthought.

"Very specific." Maddie rolled her eyes, but paused in her attack of the box labeled _Kitchen Crap_. "Lucky I know what you're talking about. It's," Maddie moved to her living room window, where Dean was leaning over his "baby", speaking in low tones to the actual baby on his hip. Orion, for his part, was listening intently, and Maddie hated herself a little bit for the smile that grew on her face.

"Right now we're what I would call a domestic-platonic." She finally admitted, and she could practically hear the confused look grow on Watson's face.

"That doesn't sound like a real thing." John argued lightly.

"It totally is," Maddie retorted immediately. "Because I'm looking at it." She groaned. "It's real…and I hate it."

"So." John huffed. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Something…drastic."

"Like what?" John asked, but instead of answering, Maddie smiled and moved to hover over the end button.

"Bye Watson." She said cheekily, before hanging up and stepping outside, heading towards the baby she adored and the man that…well, wasn't far behind.

* * *

When Maddie's phone rang for the fourth time that day, she was a little…busy.

"Sherlock," Maddie panted as she pulled away from a stunned looking Dean. "You damn cockblock, what do you want?"

Sherlock took a moment to decide whether or not to ask, then wisely decided not to. "What are your plans for Orie's first birthday?" He asked briskly.

"Dude." Maddie flicked her hair out of her face and shot Dean a wink.

The poor guy was so flustered that he didn't even notice Maddie sneak the baby out of his arms and meander her way back into the house. "That's five months away. Why?"

"I intend to attend."

"Worst sentence ever." Maddie pointed out. "But I'll ignore it for the sake of reminding you of that one day that you stuffed him with cake? That was you celebrating."

Sherlock huffed loudly. "Tell me when to appear, or I will choose a date for myself, arriving at the absolute worst moment for you." He snapped, and Maddie rolled her eyes.

"You're evil." She accused.

"Thank you." Sherlock responded promptly. "Birthday plans?"

Maddie turned to Dean, who was standing in the doorway, mouth open as if to speak. She shot him a wink, and his jaw snapped shut. "Listen, Sherlock, I don't know if you know this, but birthdays are for rich people. I never had a birthday, and look how well I turned out!"

Sherlock made a face on the other end of the line. Maddie made a face on her end, and even Dean, who didn't know the full extent of the story, made a face.

"Fine," Maddie caved. "Birthday party it is. But it will be a small one," She warned, "and we won't worry about it for at least two more months. Call me in 8 weeks, Holmes, and then we'll talk."

"Agreed," Sherlock said smugly, hanging up the phone a moment later.

* * *

Maddie pulled the head phones out of his ear and dropped her phone on the kitchen island, heading to the only room that was set up: Orie's bedroom. The baby was deposited in his crib, where he promptly rolled over and fell asleep, and Maddie returned to the main living area of her new house to find Dean exactly where she'd left him. She crossed her arms with a smile.

"So you wanna talk about that kiss," Dean started nodding quickly, "Or," Maddie continued, "would you rather just, do it again?" Dean slowly stopped nodding, his eyebrows furrowing as he thought about it.

"Both?" He finally asked hesitantly. Maddie smiled.

"Where would you like to start?" She teased lightly, moving forward.

"The second one." Dean nodded quickly. "Definitely the second part."

"Right." Maddie's smirk turned into a genuine smile.

"Let's start there then."

* * *

 **Cute. UGH. This marks the end of Abroad! Look for chapter one of the SHIFT Finale, titled Backspace, coming Sep. 1st!**

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 **~CLC~**


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